To what extent do recruitment practices frame the cognitive diversity of senior leadership teams in international schools? A study in current recruitment practices within international schools.

Abstract

The international school market worldwide has rapidly expanded over the past 20 years and has morphed in role and focus. The complexities associated with the leadership of international schools due to the different governing bodies and governments the schools are accountable to have made it a difficult field to research. While there have been some positive strides made in recognising challenges that are distinctive to these schools, very little research has focused on the processes involved in creating the senior leadership teams (SLTs) within these schools. The international school market is highly competitive, and the SLT needs to have a wide and diverse set of skills to be able to successfully lead and enable a school to flourish in this market.
The research described within this thesis is intended to further understanding within the field of international schools and contribute to the body of research completed on organisational systems found within international schools and their impact on pedagogy, specifically, the influence of the school’s ability to develop cognitively diverse SLT through appraising the recruitment practices and processes in place when recruiting a new senior pedagogical leader. This research reviews how the recruitment practices and assigned recruiters within seven case study schools influence the candidate field for senior pedagogical leadership positions. The schools included in the case studies all offer at least one of the four International Baccalaureate programmes and are located in Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and Central Asia. The schools all recruited a senior pedagogical leader in the 6 months prior to the gathering of the data in this research.
Bourdieu’s theory of practice was utilised as a framework to review recruitment practices with a particular focus on habitus, doxa and capital as they relate to the individual staff and schools within the larger field of international schools. Data was gathered through interviews, examining the individual school’s documents pertaining to the recruitment process and information published on the school website. The participants were actively involved with the recruitment process and were able to share how the final decisions regarding the appointment of the new senior pedagogical leader occurred.
Findings from the research provide evidence of definable patterns occurring within the recruitment practices, irrespective of the geographical location of the school. The definable patterns within the recruitment processes support Bourdieu’s theory of practice, in particular relating to the role of doxa and habitus in creating a possible misrecognition of recruitment processes. The misrecognition of recruitment practices can lead to the legitimised (re)production of homogenous pedagogical SLT, obscured by the habitus and doxa found within the individual schools. Unwritten rules governing the recruitment processes occurred unchallenged enabling symbolic violence to ensue through the recruitment processes. The resulting symbolic violence opposed efforts from schools to attract cognitively diverse candidates for senior pedagogical leadership positions. Further research is required to review a larger number of international schools and to examine the recruitment processes occurring at other levels within international schools.
 

Date of Award	7 May 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Mary Hayden (Supervisor) & Denise Mifsud (Supervisor)