国際的カリキュラムの開発と普及拡大 : 国際バカロレア(IB)のジレンマ(VI 研究報告)

抄録

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the development of an international curriculum and its extention to national education systems. Here we will focus mainly on the International Baccalaureate (IB). As the mobility across national borders for business grows year after year, families are obliged to stay for only a limited time in one country or another. For this reason, the problem of how to meet the conditions of schooling for the children of these families has become a pressing one. This phenomenon has brought about the rapid development and numerical increase of international schools. But international schools as 'a kind of educational department offer several different juxtaposed national streams which are less integrated and original. Such a situation is not only inconvenient for students who are trying to prepare for an examination, but also unhelpful in fostering international understanding through a common curriculum. For this reason, people feel the need for a common or standardised curriculum in the primary and secondary stages of education, along with a comprehensive examination programme. The International Schools Association (ISA) and other such International Organisations are trying to establish a common or standardised curriculum. The project of the IB in the 1960's was to develop for the first time a standardised curriculum and examination system to facilitate students admission to universities of various countries. The characteristics of the IB curriculum are as follows: (1) In order to meet the needs of every student and the requirement of each country, the IB curriculum consists of 'Six Subject Groups' (hexagon) in which each student can choose six subjects and 'Three Requirements' (Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge, CAS). These 'Three Requirements' express the originality of an international curriculum in addition to fulfilling the compulsory subjects. (2) In the assesment of examinations and the development of a new curriculum, feedback from participating schools plays an important role in fostering the reciprocity or pertnership between international schools and the IB Organisation. (3) In proportion to the extention of the IB programme, due to its excellence and originality, it is being used by national systems of education in many countries as a supplement to their own systems. But its diffusion has not been uniform. It is rather easy to accept the IB diploma in nations where there is no existing national system of examination such as in the UK, USA or Canada. On the other hand, where there exists a rigid national-diploma system for education, such as in France or Germany, it is very difficult for the IB diploma to find acceptance. In spite of its philosophy and organisation, the IB is heavily biased towards the Anglo-Saxon systems of education. Therefore, the IB is confronted with a dilemma: how to balance the preference for particular nationalities with an truly "international" curriculum.