Is There ‘Space’ for International Baccalaureate? A case study exploring space and the adoption of the IB - Middle Year Programme

Oct 15, 2026

A case study examines how ‘space’ can be listened to in education through one school’s decision to adopt the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme. Grounded in Henri Lefebvre’s (1991) tripartite conception of representational, perceived, and lived space, the study organizes and interprets school data to show spatial factors shaping the school’s rationale. Findings explain how adopting the program (re)produces a distinctive, exclusive educational space and propose further paths for critical spatial research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Research questions and framework

The International Baccalaureate

History of the IB

Program development and rationale

Is There ‘Space’ for International Baccalaureate? A case study exploring space and the adoption of the IB Middle Year Programme Timothy Monreal University of South Carolina Henri Lefebvre (1991) wrote,“[representational] space is alive: it speaks”(p. 42) . This article explores how we might ‘listen’ to space in education by examining the role of space in one school’s decision to adopt the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme. It builds upon recent scholarship that applies spatial analysis to international education. Using a case study of one school, data was organized to Lefebvre’s (1991) tripartite conception of space. The findings and analysis reveal that spatial factors played a significant role in one school’s rationale for choosing the IB MYP. In adopting the program, the school (re)produced a distinctive, exclusive space. The research offers a model to visualize space in education, and it concludes by articulating additional paths for critical spatial research in education. Introduction The rapid expansion of the International Baccalaureate (IB) verifies that international education is no longer reserved solely for international schools. An international education (tied to the IB) is increasingly common for public and national private schools. The year 2014 saw the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) authorize its 5,000th program reaching 1.3 million students (IBO, 2015a) . To counter criticism that United States’ schools dominate the IB (Brunnell, 2010), the IB has focused on expanding its international reach. IB agreements within countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (IBO, 2015a) helped push the representation of Africa, Europe, The Middle East and Asia-Pacific to 39% of all 5,907 programmes offered as of November 2016 (IBO, n.d.-a) . Hill (2010) predicted by 2020 there will 10,000 schools with IB programs serving 2.5 million students (p. 41) . Many of the schools that join the IB seek to promote global understanding, global citizenry, and a world-sharing ethos (Philips and Schweisfurth, 2014) . IB’s (2015, n.d.-b) stated mission is “... to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.” In addition to these altruistic aims, schools see the IB as a prestigious brand (Resnik, 2012) associated with superior levels of education (Paris, 2003) . It can be used as an impetus for curricular reform and improving academic excellence (Fox, 1998). One school even cited a desire to increase student diversity and achieve ‘racial balance’ (Spahn, 2001) . In choosing the IB schools must balance the benefits and sacrifices of making the transition to a more internationally focused education. Each school makes decisions based on particular perceptions, feelings, and infrastructures. These factors, taken together as the space of a school, are imperative in understanding why an institution feels compelled (or qualified) to adopt the IB. In this paper, I use a critical spatial framework to explore one school’s choice to adopt an IB Middle Years Program (MYP) . Researchers have called for greater spatial understanding in education (Larsen & Beech, 2014) . As space is socially produced (and reproduced) (Lefebvre, 1991), it is crucial to determine its influence on education landscapes. Specifically, I sought to answer the following research questions: How does space impact a school’s rationale for adopting the IB? What type of education space does the IB produce (or reproduce)? I begin with a brief history and overview of the IB. I then discuss previous literature about why schools chose the IB. I build the case for using space as a theoretical framework and follow with a description of the case study methodology explaining how I organized the data to Lefebvre’s (1991) tripartite conception of space. In doing so, I offer a model to visualize space in education. Finally, I present and analyze the data showing that spatial factors play

FAQs

What research question does the study focus on?

The study asks how space impacts a school’s rationale for adopting the IB, and what type of education space the IB produces or reproduces.

Which theoretical framework is used to analyze the case?

The study applies Henri Lefebvre’s (1991) tripartite conception of space to organize and interpret data from one school.

What do the findings suggest about the IB MYP adoption?

Spatial factors played a significant role in the school’s rationale, and the adoption helped (re)produce a distinctive, exclusive educational space.

Oct 15, 2026

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