Explicit and implicit culture in the international school : an ethnographic study of cultural diversity and its educational implications

The purpose of this cross-cultural research is to articulate the complex factors, both implicit and explicit, that are present within the multicultural environment of an international school in Japan and to discern how these cultural subtleties interrelate to create an exceptional learning atmosphere. An identification of the cultural dynamics inherent within a school comprised of thirty-five or more nationalities provides a model for comprehending and enhancing the educational opportunities existent in related cross-cultural institutions. In particular the research focuses on the coexistence and ramifications of diverse languages, value assumptions, and cultural perspectives of European, Asian and North American international school students. Within this pluralistic context, seventy-eight students were studied in order to understand how cultural dynamics affect the educational process. The research also considers how these cultural factors influence the process of adolescent identity formation. International education is considered in this research as being grounded in, and developed from, the cultural diversity of its students rather than being a superimposed structure which has been created apart from the students' cultural experiences. The study concludes that international schools can use their singularity to initiate new academic programmes that are specifically designed for international students rather than relying on the common practice of adopting existing traditional or national education formats for implementation in a foreign setting. Data collection was based on a multimodal ethnographic research design in which interviews, surveys and participant observation methods were employed.