Epistemic peripherality and the boundaries of knowledge: A situational analysis of how knowledge is shared and silenced in international schools

Background and Rationale
International schools are a rapidly expanding, yet under-theorised sector characterised by high mobility, layered governance, and diverse workforces. These features make knowledge practices (how knowledge is constructed, legitimised, shared or silenced) both vital and vulnerable. This thesis examines how legitimacy and epistemic authority shape organisational knowledge boundaries, participation trajectories, and the recognition of expertise within a large international school in China.

Methodology
An inductive qualitative design was adopted, combining situational analysis with a single embedded case study. This enabled layered mapping of social worlds, discourses, and positionalities across staffing groups, allowing structural and cultural dynamics to emerge from the data rather than being predefined.

Findings
Analysis revealed four interconnected dynamics:
• Hidden boundary work of translation and cultural mediation
• Persistent pragmatic blockages where knowledge failed to move due to legitimacy being withheld
• Uneven participation trajectories in which movement from the periphery stalled
• Organisational fluidity and turnover that repeatedly reset structures and institutional memory
These dynamics produced enduring asymmetries, with local staff often carrying boundary and continuity work, whilst remaining peripheral in recognition and wider practice.

Theoretical Contribution
To conceptualise this, the thesis develops the concept and model of epistemic peripherality. Synthesising:
• Where knowledge gets stuck (extending boundary theory (Carlile, 2002; 2004) beyond negotiation to questions of legitimacy)
• How participation stalls (revisiting legitimate peripheral participation theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991), where ‘peripheral’ becomes enduring rather than temporary)
• Why legitimacy is uneven (explaining how identity markers and structural hierarchies pre-allocate epistemic authority, resonating with postcolonial critiques of Western-aligned legitimacy)

Conclusion and Implications
International schools are positioned as complex organisations where peripherality is structurally reproduced. Transforming knowledge practice requires not only addressing mobility and turnover, but interrogating the deeper cultural and structural conditions that determine whose knowledge is recognised as legitimate.