What+is+an+International+School?

An International School is a school that provides an international education. It will either provide an international education to international students while using the curriculum in the country it is situated or it will adopt the curriculum from a region or country outside of the country in which it resides. These schools operate as private school systems, which are minimally regulated and heavily funded by the fees parents pay for children to attend the school (Coulson, 2009). International schools also operate using a tier system with the top tier schools operate efficiently where their students education is the most important factor, majority of the students are from expatriate families, parents pay hefty fees and they are able to pick and choose the teachers they want to teach at their school. As they have the luxury of teachers wanting to work at their school it is very difficult to get a position. The top tier schools are able to provide more stringent criteria to meet to work at their school such as they must have a Masters degree, are not allowed to be a beginning teacher and may have to have prior overseas experiences. These are only some possible criteria that they may use.

On the other side of the scale are the bottom tier schools. They are often run primarily as a business which means they are trying to make profit by spending less on the school, majority of the students are from local families, parents may not necessarily pay as much as the top tier parents and they find it difficult to both retain and attract teachers to their school. Teachers who are recruited at these schools may have limited teaching experience, some may not have any at all. Every now and then these schools will recruit great teachers who use the school as a means of gaining International School experience.

As a whole most International Schools are not automatically regulated other than by the Administration or owners of the school however there are organisations who accredit schools. Some International schools will apply accreditation so they can prove to potential customers, the parents, that they area a legitimate school and are doing things correctly. The accreditation as a whole process is designed to strengthen schools in the delivery of quality educational programs (WASC, 2009). We must remember that not all schools apply for accreditation nor is it considered. The impression i have been given and the experiences i have had is that schools that want to run as a legitimate school will apply for accreditation, they do not necessarily get it the first time. The that do not apply or seek accreditation are usually the lower tier schools while the top tier schools will have more than one organisation that has accredited them.

Please click on the link below to access an example of what a top tier school looks like