Personal Reflection On 4 March 2022 George Walker died in hospital after a period of illness. George was widely known and respected for his contributions to the theory and practice of international education, including leadership of schools both nationally and internationally; his achievements and influence in the field have been well documented and extensively acknowledged. He was a colleague and friend of ours for many years and, below, we reproduce a paper written by him in 2008, when Director General of the International Baccalaureate (IB), which illustrates both his knowledge and his foresight in looking towards the development of an area of education that was so important to him. Mary Hayden and Jeff Thompson
The Sky’s the Limit George Walker, March 2008
I
have written this paper to stimulate discussion about the long-term future of the IB. I shall argue that our assumptions about continuing global expansion that have underlain twentieth century education in general, and the development of the IB in particular, may not be deliverable in the 21st century. The metaphor of the shrinking ‘global village’ linked to the oppressive reality of global warming produces a new paradigm of contraction which has implications for the intellectual stimulus, cultural understanding and curriculum balance that have been key elements of the IB’s programmes. I shall begin with the IB’s significant achievements in the twentieth century: • an internationally respected pre-university diploma • three values-based K-12 programmes of international education • a style of learning short-handed as ‘critical thinking’ • a network of IB World Schools in more than 120 countries • high quality professional development The IB was a child of its times. It provided unity within academic plurality; it responded to a growing mood of international awareness; it offered a practical means
38 | International School | Summer 2022
– school education – of bringing about a tiny thaw in relations between nations frozen by the Cold War; it promulgated a style of learning which was consistent with the steady spread of democracy. The pioneering spirit of the twentieth century IB was accurately captured in the title of its semi-official history – Schools Across Frontiers (1). Times have changed and, in the 21st century, frontiers no longer seem to matter very much. Globalisation has eroded the independence of nation states and mass migration has brought cultural diversity to our doorsteps. We no longer need a passport to experience the famous ‘international 5Fs’ because four of them – food, fashion, festivals and famous people – can be found in infinite variety under the fifth – a national flag. A contemporary account of the IB might be more accurately entitled Schools Across Diverse Cultures. I believe that the IB programmes, taken as a continuum, can respond with confidence to the three most important challenges of 21st century globalisation: difference, complexity and inequality (2). • The IB’s emphasis on cultural awareness prepares students for a world where diversity has become
