Cultural intelligence and student developmental outcomes in a Hong Kong IB school

Abstract

Intercultural competence, an important skill set to have in this globalized society, is being increasingly integrated into education. It is reported that international curriculum systems, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme, are more likely to instil intercultural awareness in students compared with their nationally or regionally focused counterparts. The rich learning experiences offered in IB schools are believed to play an important role in developing students’ intercultural abilities. However, there is still a lack of research measuring the level of IB students’ intercultural capabilities and understanding the effect of these intercultural capabilities on students’ developmental outcomes in IB schools. Therefore, the present research adopts a theoretical framework of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) to examine students’ intercultural capabilities and seeks to better understand IB secondary school students’ CQ development, how it functions in its relationships with other important variables (i.e., IB learner profile key attributes, IB scores, and global identity), and how it is developed within a Hong Kong IB school context from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. The present research employed a case study mixed-methods design and comprised three stages. Stage one was a pilot study (quantitative) of 104 secondary school students from a “through-train” IB school in Hong Kong. The psychometric properties of the inventories to be used in the main study were tested, and the hypothesized relationships among key variables were explored. Stage two was the main study (quantitative cross-sectional), in which 594 secondary school students from the abovementioned school participated in a survey consisting of demographic information, modified inventories, and open-ended questions. Stage three, a follow-up study (qualitative), included documentary analyses and interviews of students, teachers, and school leaders to investigate further which teaching and learning practices were effective for students’ CQ development within the multilevel IB school context. Findings showed that the IB secondary school students had relatively higher CQ scores than those reported in previously published studies on CQ with international students samples. Their metacognitive CQ was the highest, followed by their motivational CQ, behavioural CQ, and cognitive CQ. Their CQ was positively associated with their demographic factors including age and years of learning in IB schools and was positively predicted by the four IBLP attributes (knowledgeable, inquirers, caring and open-minded). Furthermore, CQ was found to statistically predict both non-academic outcomes (measured by global identity) and academic outcomes (measured by IB scores). CQ mediated the relationships of students’ IBLP attributes to their IB scores and global identity to varying extents and moderated the relationship between caring and IB scores. Findings also revealed that various factors in the multi-layered IB school context helped effectively develop students’ intercultural capability. Implications of the findings are discussed concerning teachers, students and school administrators in IB schools and other educational institutions.