is magazine 8.1 - Autumn/Spring 2005 - International Schools ...

is Autumn 2005
Spring
Creating an international culture
Creating an
international culture
Sencer Corlu examines enculturation, the
phenomenon that affects students as well as teachers
Teaching in international schools is unique in many ways. Living
abroad, having students from all over the world or working with
colleagues from different regions of the planet are superficial
aspects of a more complex phenomenon.
Research conducted on educators teaching students from
diverse cultures argues that ‘there are cultural traditions and systemic
features, which necessitate a period of “enculturation”
before teachers can expect to become effective’ (Pepin, 1998).
However, in an international school, enculturation is not the concern
of teachers only but also of the students.
Moreover, this enculturation period may be long and tough for
both parties since the culture created in these communities is
unique for each and has no example in any other part of the world
but in international organisations. It is a unique culture, emerging
unnaturally from unnatural obligations.
What all members of any international community share in
common is the fact that the conditions are different from those
they are used to. The expatriates have to survive under the influence
of at least three cultures: their own culture, international
culture of the school, and the culture of the country hosting them.
Below are some suggestions to decrease the time needed for enculturation
of teachers and students for a multicultural experience.
Teachers find it difficult to suspend their own judgements about
the way of doing things and it necessitates open-mindedness
(Pepin, 1998), tolerance, and good observation skills. In MEF
International School, teachers are encouraged to record daily any
noteworthy incident that happened in their classroom. Personally,
when I read my notes at the end of the day, they very much help
‘What all members of any international
community share in common is the fact that the
conditions are different from those they are
used to.’
me to reconsider the way I handle unfamiliar situations and
increase my flexibility in new unfamiliar ones.
Murthadra-Watts and D’Ambrosio suggest teachers share their
life stories and experiences in order to re-evaluate their own
habitual teaching patterns (1997). This sharing may occur via the
Internet in teacher forums or as one of my colleagues does, by publishing
an interactive journal using YahooGroups.
In Irmak School, where I used to teach, at the end of each
monthly curriculum and interdisciplinary planning meeting, we
divided into small groups to talk and discuss our practices. It was
very much like a therapy group, where teachers talk about our current
and previous teaching experiences. Even writing an essay
about our teaching philosophy and adding it to the teacher portfolio
may be a small step to analyse the way we teach and hopefully
to reformulate our methods for the unique needs of our students.
These needs are indeed unique, obviously because of the different
family, cultural, and educational background of students
coming to school with different expectations. These expectations
may vary diversely from teaching methodology to disciplinary
methods.
In addition to the above practices and the orientation programme
organised by the school, old-hands like the more experienced
international teachers or teachers from the local community
may help newcomers to overcome the challenges that
Pepin (1998) grouped under two strands: ‘The cultural traditions
and the structural constraints’.
Social contact between students who have had little previous
contact needs to be positive. Bennet (2001) talks of four
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