International schooling is expanding rapidly across Southeast Asia, increasingly enrolling not only expatriate families but also local students seeking globalised educational pathways. Within this landscape, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and International A-Levels (IAL) have become dominant qualifications. Yet, despite their prominence, these curricula are rarely analysed through the lens of English-medium instruction (EMI), even though they are delivered to highly multilingual student populations. This paper undertakes a critical review of policy documents and existing scholarship to examine how English is positioned as a supposedly neutral medium, how language support is conceptualised, and how assessment practices affect additional-language (LX) learners. The analysis extends earlier work on the globalist orientation of international curricula and the rise of cosmopolitan nationalism in Southeast Asian education policy. Together, these perspectives reveal how globalist logics, national agendas, and school-level practices intersect in shaping international schooling in the region. Findings highlight persistent inequities: insufficient teacher preparation for EMI classrooms, weak integration of academic language support, and assessment frameworks that privilege native-speaker norms. The paper argues that treating IBDP and IAL as de facto EMI models exposes the need for more coherent and linguistically responsive approaches. Recommendations call on policymakers, awarding bodies, and international schools to move beyond English-only framings and embrace pedagogies that strengthen both academic access and inclusivity for diverse learners across Southeast Asia.

Authors:
Ian Tay, University of Bath, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Ian Tay is currently a doctoral student in Education at the University of Bath, researching on the political economy of international education with a focus on international curricula such as the IBDP, IAL, and UFPs.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-tay-47568638/

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