Global networking and the world of international education

NASA satellites watch the earth at night. While it is impossible to see the whole globe in darkness as the earth rotates endlessly, orbiting the sun, NASA scientists have been able to piece together a night image of the earth. It is an amazing image to see. Through this image we see brightness and darkness, we see connection and disconnection and flows of information and capital. We see an incongruent world. Yet throughout the light and dark areas international schools are located, connected through curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, networked through organisations such as the International Baccalaureate Organization and the Council of International Schools. This chapter explores global networking and then through three vignettes demonstrates how international education can be enacted in contrasting contexts and how, within these contexts, dynamic ideological tensions exist.