Translating the International Baccalaureate in different educational contexts: the benefits of and constraints on teachers sharing a common lexicon

This chapter draws on the testimonies of 38 Primary Years Programme (PYP) teachers in Canada and Australia to explore their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of working within the PYP framework, as well as elements of the broader International Baccalaureate (IB) model in which the PYP is situated. It explores some of the challenges faced by teachers in translating the IB lexicon into practice. The varied interpretation and translation of IB concepts such as tolerance have direct implications for how a kind of cosmopolitan hospitality is taught by IB teachers. The general depth of teachers’ commitments to the IB and PYP was an indication that IB and PYP educational principles had migrated successfully to regions far from Europe, the administrative centre of the IB. Teachers adopted the language of the PYP as a basis for individual and shared culture, understanding, and purposes, attesting to the ability of IB ideas to migrate into new contexts.