Book reviews we have an example of a statement that might have been true a decade or so ago, but how true is it today? Oft-quoted figures in recent literature usually claim that around 80% of international school students are now ‘locals’. A major problem with the book, as is the case with much literature on ‘international schools’, is that it makes little or no attempt to classify or define what an ‘international school’ is. This is either because the author assumes we know what such a school is, or the author does not wish to open the issue up to debate for fear of diverting attention from the main arguments of the book. Moreover, the book takes the stance that ‘international schools operate all over the world in the English language’ (p51). However, taking as a premise that it is the language of instruction that determines the validity of a school being an ‘international school’ seriously limits the academic range of the book. Further, it is probably
the newer, branded, commercially-driven (‘for-profit’) variants of ‘international schools’ that the book has in its target-view. So, why was this type of school not addressed in more detail? To conclude, the book provides evidence of a situation where literature is appearing that tries to address current trends and developments in international schooling, yet within a framework that was more suitable for previous discussion. This seems symptomatic of a bigger problem; the field needs new models and frameworks that will facilitate discussion that helps to scrutinise critically the outcomes of an ‘international education’. Tristan Bunnell is a lecturer in international education at the University of Bath. Email: T.Bunnell@bath.ac.uk
Whose History? Essays in Perception by Caroline Ellwood (ed) Woodbridge: John Catt Educational (2016) Reviewed by Mark Sunman This book should be of interest not only to history teachers but also to a wider audience. As Siva Kumari, Director General of the International Baccalaureate, writes: “this book raises and addresses important questions about how history is perceived not only through aspects of historiography but by teachers deciding how and what to teach to this modern world”. The book is divided into thirteen chapters, each of which considers a different theme. Chapter 10 by Conway and Higginson explains how examinations have changed since the first University of Cambridge examinations in 1858. The first examination stressed factual recall with questions that required candidates to list and give details of monarchs from Richard I to Richard II. Not only do examinations now place greater emphasis on analysis, historical skills and the ability to explain, but history practitioners are faced with a myriad of thorny dilemmas and controversies. Many of these are considered in this work. The first half of the book focuses on interpretation. How is historical understanding affected by language? How is history influenced by nationalist perspectives? The latter issue is highlighted in Chapter 4 (by Professor Oluyoka Ogen) through an interesting case study of how colonial prejudices led British bureaucrats to manipulate archival records to fit the “wisdom” of their artificially constructed colonial divisions in Ikaleland, south-eastern Yorubaland, Nigeria. Spring
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Ellwood´s chapter (5) on the First World War takes the issue of interpretation of events a step further. It is an excellent summary of the historiographical controversy which still rages around the start of the conflict. In doing so Ellwood gets to the heart of history as the study of competing paradigms about past events. Theories have to be examined for bias. As Ellwood herself explains: “All the recent histories presenting
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