Influence of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension of Masculinity on the Goals and Values of Education in IB Schools in America and Netherlands

Introduction and Theoretical Framework

This research will focus on how the masculinity and femininity cultural dimension influences goals and values of international education at the Dutch IB and those of the international education of American IB schools. In this introduction, the six dimensions of culture according to Hofstede, for the two countries will be identified and compared. However, emphasis will be laid on the masculinity dimension of culture. The cultural dimension of masculinity indicates the extent to which a give society is driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the best-in-the-field. Masculinity and femininity cultural dimension is relevant to our research because its influence on the goals and values of education in IB schools in America and Netherlands will be studied. Essentially, it is significantly hard to disentangle cultural values from social and education policies. For instance, dominant values in Masculine countries like US are achievement and success whereas in feminine countries like Netherlands, the dominant values are consensus seeking, caring for others and quality of life (Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, masculinity and femininity plays a significant role in determining the interaction between teachers and students in IB schools. 

One of the most effective ways to begin learning about a particular country is by considering how it compares with other global location in terms of well-known cultural dimensions. The various dimension of culture include power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation and indulgence (Zhang et al., 2014). Power distance, as one of the cultural dimensions, deals with the idea that all individuals in the societies are not equal. Therefore, power distance significantly expresses the attitude of the culture toward the power inequalities in the society. As such, power distance can be best described as the degree to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions within a particular country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Individualism addresses the issue regarding the degree of interdependence a particular society maintains among its members. Masculinity refers to the extent a society will be driven by competition, achievement and success. In this case, success is defined by the best in the field. Uncertainty avoidance refers to the way that a society deals with the idea that the future is marred by uncertainty. As such, the dimension defines how the members of a given society feel threatened by unknown situations. Long term orientation describes how a particular society has to maintain some links to its own past while dealing with the present and future challenges. Finally, indulgence defines the extent to which members of a given society try to control their impulse and desires by exercising restrain.

The cultural dimension of masculinity will be singled out because a comparison of the masculinity scores of the two countries indicates a sharp contrast between the two cultures. As such, the study will determine its influence on the goals and values of education in IB schools in America and Netherlands. Masculinity is considered to have some impact on the nature of goals and values of education in international education (Laverty, 2010). A comparison of the masculinity scores of the two countries indicates a sharp contrast between the two cultures. While the masculinity score of the United States is high at 62, the masculinity score of Netherlands is significantly low at 14. According to Hofstede’s cultural analysis, the culture of United States is driven by competition, achievement and success. As such, the Americans’ behavior in school, work, and play are focused on the shared values that individuals should strive to be the best they can be. Therefore, the members of the American society tend to display and talk freely about how successful they are (Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, the sympathy is for the winners in the US as status is much valued. As such, the US culture does not sympathize with the underdogs. Such a masculine US culture influences the relationship between teachers and students as well as the relationship among students. On the contrary, Netherlands’ low score of 14 indicates that the dominant values in the society are quality of life and caring for others. Therefore, Netherlands is a feminine society and it places importance on keeping life/work balance and ensures that all members are included (Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, the Netherlands culture promotes caring for others, consensus seeking and quality of life as primary social values. As such, the people in Netherland try as much to avoid situations that distinguish between losers and winners. This nature of the Netherlands culture affects the policies and values upheld in the education system. The cultural dimension of masculinity may significantly influence the goals and values of IB schools.

IB schools refer to a non-profit educational foundation offering for highly respected programs of international education that develop the personal, intellectual, emotional and social skills essential for living, learning and working in a rapidly globalizing world. The courses include language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences and arts. Marie-Therese Maurette influenced the creation of the framework for what would eventually become the IB Diploma Program in 1948. During the mid-1960s, a group of teachers from the International School of Geneva created the International Schools Examination Syndicate, which would later lead to the establishment of IB schools. Currently, IB schools offer education to more than a million students in 146 countries across the world (IBO, 2013). Registered and approved IB schools have certain values in general. The various values of IB schools include teamwork, open mindedness, inquiry, critical and creative thinking, integrity and honesty, fairness and justice, risk taking, compassion, and resilience (IBO, 2013). IB is all about in-depth discussions that are largely controlled by students. It has gained much global popularity for emphasizing critical and creative thinking and setting high standards. Additionally, IB students are expected to be responsible for their own learning, devising their own projects and choosing topics (Drake, 2004). As such, the teachers act more as mentors or supervisors as opposed to being sources of facts. Furthermore, IB places more importance on research and encourages teamwork and collaboration among students.

The level of cultural dimension of masculinity of the teachers in the US and the teachers in the Netherlands and its influence on the education in IB schools will be determined through observations and interviews. It is considered that the level of masculinity of the teachers influences the goals and values of IB schools in both Netherland and America. The relevant literature is expected to support this hypothesis. Based on the literature reviewed, the nature and the degree of influence of cultural dimension of masculinity on the international education in IB schools in America and the Netherlands have not been sufficiently explored. The cultural dimension of masculinity is believed to influence the values and attitudes of the society. However, it is not clear how the cultural dimension of masculinity affects the individual characters of the members of the particular countries. Therefore, this research will provide a better understanding of the influence of the cultural dimension of masculinity on the goals and values of education in IB schools in America and Netherlands. It is important to examine how the cultural dimension of masculinity in the two countries influences the goals and values of international education at IB schools. This is because the outcome will help to facilitate the development of appropriate strategies for improving the quality of education in the IB schools in the two countries. Therefore, the main research question will be “How does the cultural dimension of masculinity in the US and the Netherlands according to Hofstede’s cultural dimension influence the goals and values of the international education at IB schools in the respective countries?” 

Methodology 

Based on the research question, a qualitative approach will be used to determine the influence of cultural dimension of masculinity on the goals and values of the international education in the US and the Netherlands. The research will take place in the US and the Netherlands. The research participants will be the teachers in one IB school in each country. Three teachers from each country will be interviewed in order to gather sufficient data that will be used to establish the influence of masculinity on the international education the respective IB schools. The identified teachers will be invited to participate in the research. For this research, at least one female teacher per country will be selected to participate in the research in order to eliminate gender bias. The teachers who will participate in the research will be aged between thirty and fifty two years. The teachers selected must have at least three year of experience. The teachers will be interviewed on the approaches that they use in classrooms. Same procedures will be applied both in Netherlands and USA in order to ensure uniformity. The number of the teachers that will be selected will make it feasible to conduct observations and interviews for teachers in the two countries. Additionally, the selected teachers who will participate in the research will be interviewed using structured questions. Structured questions will ensure that all the interviewees answer the same questions. The interview will be structured around several focal questions developed to cover the main aspects of the research question. For instance, the questions that will be asked in the interview will include questions about the cultural dimension of masculinity as well as their take on the norms values and objectives of the IB schools. Some of the questions include; 

How does the cultural dimension of masculinity impact on your teaching? 

Are the students cognizant about the aspect of the cultural dimension of masculinity?

What are some of the areas in teaching that you feel are affected the most?

What do you think can be done to mitigate the impact of the cultural dimension of masculinity?

The above questions can provide the appropriate direction for the research. The questions will explore the potential areas of teaching that may likely be influenced by the cultural dimension of masculinity. 

References

Drake, B. (2004). International Education and IB Programmes Worldwide Expansion and Potential Cultural Dissonance. Journal of Research in International Education , 3 (2), 189-205.

Hofstede, H. (2001). Culture’s consequences. Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations . Sage Publications

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2013). What is an IB education? Wiltshire. Antony Rowe.

Laverty, M. (2010). Learning our concepts. Journal of Philosophy of Education , 43(1), 27-49 

Zhang, X., De Pablos, P. O., & Xu, Q. (2014). Culture effects on the knowledge sharing in multi-national virtual classes: A mixed method. Computers in Human Behavior , 31 , 491-498.