Contribution short abstract:

In this paper, we consider the design and piloting of ‘Language and Culture’ in the context of the International Baccalaureate’s cross-disciplinary learning and teaching framework, exploring the integration of Studies in language and literature with Social and cultural anthropology.

Contribution long abstract:

The International Baccalaureate (IB), a global leader in international education, has offered Social and cultural anthropology (SCA), a course in its Diploma Programme (DP), to pre-university school students across the globe for over 50 years. SCA is well established, but a recent cross-disciplinary innovation now provides students with another pathway to develop an anthropological way of thinking about the world.

Cross-disciplinary approaches to learning are embedded in the DNA of the IB, for example, the transdisciplinary themes of the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the interdisciplinary unit of the Middle Years Programme (MYP), and the interdisciplinary pathway of the DP’s academic research paper, the ‘extended essay’. The DP also features specific courses that integrate disciplines, it is in this space that we find a new cross-disciplinary innovation, ‘Language and culture’.

In this paper, we consider the design and piloting of ‘Language and Culture’ in the context of the IB’s cross-disciplinary learning and teaching framework, exploring the integration of Studies in language and literature with Social and cultural anthropology.

As anthropologists, and incorporating our experiences in curriculum design and management, and examination of DP SCA, our aims are to provide an overview of the development of the new Language and culture curriculum, highlighting its purposes and challenges, and discussing the value of adopting an interdisciplinary approach as a way to broaden access to anthropology at a school level. We draw from our involvement in the creation of this new pedagogic initiative and from the analysis of testimonies gathered from alumni focus groups.