ABSTRACT
The urge to include a world-wide view in the education of the young is not new. In 1580 Montaigne wrote: 'This great world ... is the mirror into which we must look if we are to behold ourselves from the proper standpoint.' In a growing number of schools around the world, both within and outside state systems of education, children from many different cultures are being educated together in the same classrooms. Among these many schools are those which consciously call themselves 'international'. Such schools have increased dramatically in number and diversity in the past 40 years. They now form a recognizable, if loose network, served in the main by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) whose Diploma, Middle Years and Primary Years Programmes often form the basis of their educational programmes. Although some such schools provide scholarships and bursaries for students in financial need, the overwhelming majority charge fees. As such they have often been described as elitist and hence of little relevance in the widest global terms.
