Processes of internationalisation are increasingly recognised as central to the study of education (Yemini 2015). Most of the research emphasises the importance of global education policy initiatives and forms of accountability (Lingard et al. 2016), the exponential growth of edu-businesses (Ball 2012a; Resnik 2015), the increasing transnational movement of capital and people, and how this has led to increased international patterns of mobility for education (Favell 2008; Brooks and Waters 2011; Cairns et al. 2017). Meanwhile, research and theorisation around elite education has experienced a resurgence in recent years, with a number of key publications (Howard and Kenway 2015; van Zanten 2015; Koh and Kenway 2016; Maxwell and Aggleton 2016a, b). Increasingly, this work takes up the importance of internationalisation in shaping what constitutes an elite education—what is sought after in terms of an education and future destinations (Ball 2016; Nogueira and Alves 2016; Yang 2016; Kenway et al. 2017). It is interesting to note, however, the uneven manner with which internationalisation affects the production of elite forms of education—as research on the French and English national contexts demonstrates (Power et al. 2013; Brooks and Waters 2015; van Zanten and Maxwell 2015; Maxwell and Aggleton 2016b). This book therefore specifically sets out to consider the question of how internationalisation processes may or may not constitute and alter elite education. Critically, we focus on the uneven patterns of influence found in different national contexts, but also across the various phases of education.
How might internationalisation processes affect the articulation of elite education? First, within educational institutions, these imperatives to “be global” in some way influence how they seek to recruit international students, emphasise the need to internationalise the curriculum , promote the desire for transnational future aspirations and the creation of cosmopolitan subjects (Maxwell and Aggleton 2016b). Second, studies of national education systems have highlighted how the orientation towards the international by a group of dominant schools and universities, and/or government policy can greatly affect the shape and approaches taken by the rest of the education system , thereby re-entrenching the stratification found within it—between “elite” and other educational institutions (Deppe et al. 2015; Deppe and Krüger 2016; Krüger and Helsper 2014; Helsper and Krüger 2015a, b; Maxwell and Aggleton 2016c). Third, recent work by Kenway and colleagues in particular (Kenway et al. 2017) has begun to identify the circulation of elite education subjects and constellations of elite education institutions on the global stage.
Although, increasingly, internationalisation of education has been a focus of study (Brooks and Waters 2011; Resnik 2012; King et al. 2013; McCarthy and Kenway 2014), there remain important gaps in this work. The first is the need to pay more careful attention to the theoretical frameworks being engaged with, how this shapes the kind of research undertaken, and the ways findings are interpreted. The second gap is the need to introduce a more comparative perspective to such investigations—trying to understand how particular histories, structures and policies shape articulations of elite forms of education and current movements within and between systems of education. The third area in which scholarship on elite education and processes of internationalisation is lacking is a dearth of empirical work in the early years and primary education sectors. This book directly engages with all three gaps in the literature.
The internationalisation of elite education “concerns two classical sociological questions: the link between education and social stratification and the link between education and the nation-state” (Resnik 2012: 305). Globalisation processes have increased the number of families who are moving around the world, as well as the demand for international education. At the same time scholars have observed that local elites desire an education for their children that is international in orientation and/or will be recognised in the global marketplace (Keßler et al. 2015; Resnik 2015). There are several consequences of the emergence of such consistent demands for an international education. It is often seen by families, higher education institutions and employers as a form of cultural, linguistic or international capital that therefore distinguishes one group of students from another (Brown and Lauder 2011). It is possible to take this argument one step further and consider that changing orientations within educational provision from the local to the global, and the increasing flow of people, capital and educational qualifications challenge the structures shaping social class formation (Sklair 1991; Ball 2016; Kenway et al. 2017). However, more work is needed to examine claims that the nation state no longer provides the backdrop for the kind of education received, the ways people develop their identities and sense of “belonging” (Bauman 1991, 1998b; Sklair 1991; Elliott and Lemert 2006), and to therefore consider how this shapes what it means to be “elite” and the extent to which being transnationally mobile is a fundamental part of such a positioning (Favell 2008; Keßler et al. 2015; Cairns et al. 2017).
The presence of internationalisation in education in general, and more specifically within (the formation of) elite education, has been a particular focus for the Halle-based research group. 1 Led by Heinz-Hermann Krüger and Werner Helsper, the team has been exploring this question, while also examining the stratificatory implications for the German education system —across the sectors—from early childhood care and education to university provision . Drawing on the contributions made to an international conference held in October 2015, this book considers the increasing trends towards internationalisation within education and considers how these are altering understandings of, and types of, elite education. In the same spirit, this book, too, is the result of increasing internationalisation within academia—where working relationships are forged across universities and countries. 2
This book seeks to engage with and extend the ways we theorise and evidence the intersections between processes of internationalisation and the formation and re-articulation of elite forms of education, and consider the kinds of subjectivities that are created and imagined within these spaces for students, teachers and other members o...