Exploring enduring employment discrimination in favour of British and American teachers in ‘traditional international schools’

Bibliographic Data

ID21726445
AuthorsTristan Bunnell (0000-0002-4460-3749, University of Bath, corresponding author), Cherry Atkinson (0009-0003-6143-2800, University of Bath)
Year2020
Volume19
Issue3
Pages251-267
Publication date2020-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Research in International Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1475-2409 • E-ISSN: 1741-2943
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1475240920980188
OpenAlexW3107596949
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited44

Volume 2 of this journal included an article (Canterford, 2003) which discussed ‘segmented labour markets’ in ‘international schools’. Using an economics lens, that paper investigated the predominance of British and American educators, concluding that a form of discrimination existed which was driven by demand-side factors. In particular, Canterford identified a labour market dominated by British and American actors, asserting that ‘requirements discriminate very effectively against teachers from certain areas of the world.’ Our paper re-visits and advances Canterford’s discussion, and argues that not only does there still seem to be a reliance on native English-speaking Anglo-American actors in what might be described as ‘traditional international schools’, but there is a further need to move beyond economic theory towards the application of a sociological one. By applying Pierre Bourdieu’s Social Field Theory we show how positive discrimination in favour of native English-speakers from certain Western/Global North nations can occur within a discrete level of activity, creating a condition that is evident yet most often misrecognised. A complex set of doxa endures within the arena, beginning at recruitment level and continuing within curriculum-delivery and teacher-retainment levels. We show how the field in general possesses a normative belief-system that promotes division within the labour market, yet at the same time makes it seem natural, legitimate, and ‘legal’. This situation, the nomos, is a powerful, structural condition that helps make positive discrimination in favour of British and American actors seem so fundamentally normal as to remain, for the most part, unremarked. The topic still requires substantially more investigation and validation. However, by theorising it, and thus better confronting it, we can arguably begin to deal with it

Curriculum · Economics · Normative · Pedagogy · Political science · Positive economics · Social science · Sociology · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · International Student and Expatriate Challenges · Law

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