Nationally organized education systems are the accepted model of public education worldwide, which however is challenged by transnational practices and institutions. (Adick 2005, p. 245). Since World War II and especially since the 1990s, an international education market has emerged in general education, where numerous education providers offer their services, amongst others the development and organization of curricula, teaching resources, consulting and certification of schools (Hornberg, 2012). One of these education providers is the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), which offers K1-12 education programs and with the International Baccalaureate (IB) a university entrance examination, which neither evolved from a national education system nor are they based on an international agreement.

The focus of the IBO educational objective is a school-leaving qualification and respective educational programs which are approved across national borders. Students attending IB classes are encouraged to adopt a global perspective and to engage in developing intercultural competencies for lifelong learning. The IB and IB programs can be completed in English, Spanish, French and parts of it also in German and Chinese. In January 2019, 5,271 schools in 143 countries worldwide offered the IB (cf. International Baccalaureate Organization 2019). In Germany there were 84 schools overall, of which 29 were public and 55 were private schools. The education courses of the IBO are fee required and can be completed at private as well as public schools. Schools wanting to provide the IB and IB programs for their students have to complete a cost-intensive certification process under the authority of the IBO.

Against the background of the concept “transnational educational spaces” (comp. Adick, 2008; Hornberg, 2010; 2012; 2014) the IB and IB education programs represent transnational educational spaces. Today the IB and IB Programs are not only present in the private education sector, but also in public education systems worldwide, and in Germany as well (Hornberg 2012). They function on already existing transnational convergences, are non-governmental, but always in some way privately financed, and imply national border-transcending education processes. Thus, with the International Baccalaureate, a private, non-public organization is interfering with the public school system, wanting to serve the same “customers” as the state education system. This has implications for the public school system, because with the IB in addition to the nation state a transnational organization takes on tasks that the nation state itself would normally take care of (Hornberg, 2012). The perspective of transnationalism referred to in this context deals with educational spaces that “on the one hand exceed the borders of national states and national societies, but on the other hand are not simply global in the sense of ubiquitous or >present in all important world regions<.” (Pries 2001, p. 49).

Educational research has dealt comparatively little with the IB and IB education programs. Corresponding topics were examined primarily by organizations close to the IBO. Due to the absence of respective empirical research, the project „Requirements for and Implementation of the International Baccalaureate in Germany - a Case Study at a Grammar School in North Rhine-Westphalia” aims at analyzing the outset and requirements identified for integrating the IB in a public school, the implementation process as well as advantages and shortcomings of this process. Aims and first results of the project will be presented and the following research questions discussed: Can and if so, in how far can transnational practices and institutions challenge the monopoly position of the state in organizing public education and what are the advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of transnational educational programs for a single school?

To answer the research questions and to understand the conditions, motivation, and requirements for and the implementation of transnational educational opportunities, narrative expert-interviews as well as group discussions with diverse agents of the school are conducted and a portrait of the school is generated. The Interviews and discussions will be reconstructed with the documentary interpretation method (e.g., Bohnsack, 2010; Nohl, 2017) and analyzed with the software MAXQDA. With the help of expert-interviews those agents, who are familiar with the administration of the institution ‘school’ due to their own experience and who possess special knowledge, which is not accessible to everyone in the respective sphere of activity [to be examined] (Meuser & Nagel, 2016, S. 345), are interrogated. These interviews will explore the motivation and reasons for the introduction of the IB as well as its institutional manifestation from different angles. During the group discussions, the following aspects will serve as a frame: the everyday working-life, the integration of the IB in the curricular and overall structures of the school as well as personal motivation and reasons for choosing to teach the IB or not. Group discussions as well as expert-interviews aim at encouraging the interview partners to discuss their work practice and experiences. Overall, knowledge shall be analyzed, which can be described as implicit knowledge “in the sense of functional area specific rules, that produce the observable actions, but cannot be made explicit by the agents themselves” (Meuser & Nagel, 2016, S. 347). Thus, the school internal decisions and development processes shall be reconstructed.

The research project opens up comparative perspectives regarding the influence of a private, non-public organization operating worldwide in the national school systems. It is a reaction to a general research desideratum in the context of internationalization of schools and school systems, international schools, and transnational educational spaces, especially under circumstances where tasks normally in the responsibility of the nation state are now taken over by a transnational organization. By analyzing how and why public schools implement the IB and which advantages and disadvantages the implementation of transnational educational programs has for a single school, the question shall be discussed, in how far transnational convergences can be found in public educational spaces and whether transnational practices and institutions can challenge a monopoly position of the state in organizing public education. Taking this case as a point of reference, more general tendencies shall be identified and taken into account for the analysis of school development processes.

Adick, C. (2005). Transnationalisierung als Herausforderung für die International und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft [Transnationalization as a challenge for international and intercultural comparative educational science]. Tertium Comparationis, 11 (2), 243– 269. Adick, C. (2008). Transnationale Bildungsorganisationen in transnationalen Bildungsräumen: Begriffsdefinitionen und Vorschlag für eine Typologie. [Transnational educational organizations in transnational educational spaces: conceptual definitions and suggestions for a typology] TertiumComparationis, 14 (2), 168 – 197. Bohnsack, R. (2010). Dokumentarische Methode und Typenbildung – Bezüge zur Systemtheorie. [Documentary method and typification – references to system theory] In R. John, A. Henkel & J. Rückert-John (Hrsg.), Die Methodologien des Systems. Wie kommt man zum Fall und wie dahinter? (S. 291–320). Wiesbaden: Springer. Hornberg, S. (2010). Schule im Prozess der Internationalisierung von Bildung. [School in the process of the internationalization of education] Münster: Waxmann. Hornberg, S. (2012). Transnationale Bildungsräume im staatlichen Schulsystem. [Transnational educational spaces in the national school system] Tertium Comparationis, 18 (1), 108–127. Hornberg, S. (2014). Transnational educational spaces. Border-transcending dimensions in education. In L. Vega (Hrsg.), Empires, post-coloniality and interculturality. New challenges for comparative education (S. 171–180).Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. International Baccalaureate Organization. Key facts about the DP. Zugriff am 26.01.2019. Verfügbar unter http://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/what-is-the-dp/key-facts-about-the-dp/ Meuser, M. & Nagel, U. (2016). Experteninterview. [Expert interview] In M. Dick, W. Marotzki & H. Mieg (Hrsg.), Handbuch Professionsentwicklung. (S. 342–352). Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Nohl, A.-M. (2017). Interview und Dokumentarische Methoden. Anleitungen für die Forschungspraxis [Interview and documentary methods. Instructions for research practice] (Qualitative Sozialforschung, 5. Aufl.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Pries, L. (2001): Internationale Migration. [International migration]Bielefeld: transcript.