Different ‘types’ of international school

Image: Austrian National Library

So you have noticed several schools online that you would be interested to apply.

But what can you expect from an international school? Hopefully the reality would not match the above image, but I’ve added it to illustrate how the reality may be very different from what you expect.

I discuss in-depth the ‘types’ of international school you may come across in my book, however, I will look at a few considerations here in brief.

First of all –

Be aware that there is no clear definition of what constitutes an international school. An international school does not need to meet any criteria to be labelled international. Although there are some similarities, overall international schools differ greatly to state systems. (p.37)

One definition could include the ‘international-ness’ of students within the school. A great number of international schools cater to the local (albeit-rich) population. Some require that the child or one parent holds an international passport. However, this does not mean that the child will speak English. It can mean that the passport has been procured entirely for the child to attend the international school. One school I worked at on international day a large number of children where identified as ‘Burkina Faso’, take what you will from that. However, other schools cater to a diverse range of children, with one nationality dominating. This could be English for British schools, or American for US schools.

When considering these different types of schools, whether predominantly expat or local population schools, you may wish to consider whether your desire to teach internationally comes from a desire to teach a diverse range of students or perhaps your interests lie in supporting the local population become global citizens. If you have children who will attend the school this will be an important consideration. (p.38)

So when deciding upon a school it is advisable to find out what demographic it is catering to.

In my experiences I found while I worked in Egypt and Taiwan with mainly a local population (in both cases within Early Years), the experience was one in which I could work on teaching both language and curriculum, plus I had little to no behaviour issues. As an early years teacher, I missed out on student discussions within play, which is vital to observations and next steps. In a contrasting experience in Europe, I found the diverse mix of children interesting to work with. They communicated in the common language of English which was helpful to my work. However, I felt there were more behaviour issues and often, from the parent’s perspective, a different standpoint on what was important in terms of education than I had felt in Asia.

When I became a mother with a school-attending child, it became increasingly important to me to work in a more diverse school where children would be using English both in class and at playtime. In one school I had heard that students had segregated themselves at high school into groups of natives and non-natives, and this was highly concerning for me.

In my book, I expand on this area and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working for for-profit and non-for-profit schools, and the different levels of ‘tier’ within international schools, which is also useful to consider.

Thanks for reading!

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