OVERVIEW

Parents whose career path relocates them and their family internationally for an extended or indefinite period of time must make many important decisions. Among the most significant is selecting an appropriate international education for the child. Those who move to one country permanently may select local schools. Millions more nomadically move every two or three years (due to changing work in multinational firms, diplomacy, journalism, education, missions, or relief and development). In these situations, changing a child’s language of instruction periodically is not wise or practical. A continuous, philosophically consistent education in one language is a good solution.

International schools provide the answer. Although international schools exist in many languages (such as German, French, Russian, Japanese, and Swiss-German), the vast majority are English-language based, and most international parents put their children into these schools wherever they live abroad (and even sometimes at home). The first such school was founded in Mexico City in 1888, but the advent of the League of Nations and the development of more rapid international travel created a vastly more mobile international community. As international business also evolved and exploded over time, multinational concerns, led by oil companies, participated in varying degrees in providing or participating in international schools.

The schools have typically been created by companies, the United States State Department, coalitions of concerned parents, or Christian missionary agencies (i.e., those schools, now mostly or in part secular, which were originally established for missionary children). Schools that transformed from exclusive finishing schools to general international schools are also included. Additionally, some boarding schools that once catered the children of wealthy families now market their services worldwide to attract boarding students from international communities where English-language high schools may be illegal (e.g., the Middle East). Because the League and, eventually, the modern United Nations (U.N.) were based in Geneva, international schools have a long and powerful history in Switzerland. Still, today, Switzerland has more international schools than any other country.

However, Switzerland hardly has a monopoly; there are so many international schools worldwide that it is difficult to get an exact count. Estimates range from 800 to 2000, and sizes of student bodies go from one student to several thousand on multiple campuses. Most countries maintain at least one such school, including the United States (with schools in New York; Washington, D.C.; Houston; and even Ferdinand, Indiana) and England (London alone has eleven).

Some are high-priced (one boarding school in Switzerland moves its entire operation during the winter—down to microscopes and staplers—to another complete facility in the Swiss Alps ski resort of Gstaad); some are heavily subsidized by corporations. Most depend on the international organizations extant in their cities to pay for the educational needs of their families, so prices easily reach $1000 per month per child. This excludes books (which are to be purchased), sports (teams tend to travel by bus, train, and air to sporting events), and school trips (usually to other countries). Additionally, local public transportation, school bus fees, and capital campaigns often require substantial donations from incoming families.

School demographics vary, based upon the business base of the community (representing one country or many) and the type of school. There are several predominant school types:

A multinational student body. Schools in U.N. cities such as New York, Geneva, and Vienna comprise this category. The Ecole Internationale in Geneva had ninety-nine nationalities represented in 1992 in a 2500-member student population on four campuses. Many of these kids have multiple nationalities because of mixed-nationality parents, birth in a different country than that of citizenship, or nationalities acquired for various reasons. This is more typical in International Baccalaureate (IB) or British system schools (see below) than in American style schools. Still, even within that school, there are significantly larger groups of Americans, British Commonwealth, Swiss, and French students (the latter two are locals). A primarily American student body. These are found in cities with large American company presence and in American or American International schools. A substantially native student body. This occurs in third-world or developing nations. The domestic ruling classes opt out of local education (for practical or elitist reasons), to prepare their children for higher education (university and beyond) in U.S. or British universities. A regionally biased student body. In these types of schools, one will find more Asians in international schools in Asia, more Europeans in Europe, and so on. However, the students merge from a variety of countries within that region, predominantly from the regional industrialized areas.

Schools also segment into five pedagogical types: U.S. system, British system, IB school, bilingual school, and European Union-type school. Each of these is influenced by local laws, especially if some or many of its students are refugees from local schools.

U.S. system. The linear curriculum design prepares students for higher education as they would be prepared in a school in America (e.g., algebra 1 in ninth grade, geometry in tenth grade, and algebra 2 in eleventh grade). These schools offer access to SAT, ACT, and AP exams. British system. These schools prepare students for entry into British universities and post-high school education. Rather than linear, the curriculum is a spiraling system, with International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exams at the end of tenth grade (eleventh in an IB school). "A" levels have been replaced in many schools by IB exams at the end of the thirteenth grade. IGCSEs are conducted in the spring for a period of about four weeks and encompass up to eighteen major exams. IB schools. The IB organization, based in Geneva, provides curriculum and testing to prepare students for entry into any university in the world which recognizes the IB Generally utilizing the IGCSE as an entrance exam into the final two years, the IB provides the most rigorous of educational standards at the high school level. The one’s future depends on the IB score earned after two weeks of intensive testing during spring of the thirteenth grade. U.S. universities, except a few Ivy League-level schools, generally do not acknowledge the IB. Still, many American cities provide magnet schools for students interested in pursuing the IB. Bilingual schools. A few schools provide education in two languages, usually English and the local language. In these schools, the students alternate daily studying their courses in different languages. Their courses are in English one day, the local language on the next, English the third, the local language the fourth, and so on. These schools are typically heavily populated by the children of the local aristocracies. European Union schools. The EU provides schools with classroom instruction available to each language group. Thus, schools are created within the school, and each student is educated in his or her own tongue. French international lycees (those in France, not those outside France) are similar, although all students receive more instruction in French than in their own languages. Japanese schools. These are noted only for interest. Many Japanese students attend international schools, and, in the afternoon, go to Japanese schools within their international cities to ensure their preparation for Japanese university tests.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What might be some difficulties in trying to run an English-language school in a non-English culture?
2. How might a wise youth worker utilize some of these difficulties to be of service to the school?
3. In recruiting someone to go into an international setting as a youth worker, or in preparing oneself to do so, what types of training, experiences, skills, and talents might be beneficial to acquire?

IMPLICATIONS

• International schools in some third-world settings will provide a great point of contact to the children of the local elites who speak both English and the native language.
• Teaching in an international school obviates the need for financial support, and provides daily contact with the kids in a natural, credible way.
• As well, teaching may be the only way to enter certain countries with an eye toward youth work, particularly Middle Eastern and other Muslim countries.
• Because the schools are independent and insular, one who works with youth must find a credible, legitimate, and durable way to be on campus. Otherwise, there will be few effective alternatives.