Not all revolutions involve angry mobs marching on the streets. George Walker's silent revolution has been taking place in the classrooms and staff common areas of internationally minded schools around the world, as they increasingly turn their backs on traditional national curricula for one with a more global feel.
The former director of the International Baccalaureate Organisation has played a key role in the worldwide promotion of an educational curriculum which instils students with an international outlook from the outset.
During Professor Walker's time at the helm, the three IB programmes - primary years, middle years and the flagship university-entrance qualification, the IB Diploma - the organisation experienced annual growth rates of between 15 per cent and 20 per cent.
'We were told by one consultant that all we needed to do was to answer the phone,' he said. 'We decided we did not want to take such a passive approach.
'It is actually quite easy to manage contraction. It's not very pleasant but it is quite easy. Expansion is much more difficult. I don't think growth has affected the aims and goals of the organisation. But it has affected the administration.'
Professor Walker retired as director in 2005, after six years in the post but remains a visiting professor at the University of Bath's Department of Education where the IBO retains its research wing.
Professor Walker said the sudden increase in popularity of the IB programmes was due largely to an 'increasing concern for an international dimension in education', which national curricula have traditionally been unable to deliver.