UK INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS


INTERNATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS At the 2016 COBIS conference in London, CEO Colin Bell revealed that the association now had 265 member and accredited member schools in more than 75 countries. Data from the latest COBIS annual survey reveals that these schools educate around 100,000 pupils and employ more than 12,000 teachers and support staff. The curriculum most commonly taught by responding COBIS schools worldwide is the UK curriculum, at 99 per cent.


The examinations most commonly taken in the previous academic year were International GCSE (47 per cent of schools), A Level (31 per cent of schools) and AS Level (27 per cent of schools).


The International GCSE (IGCSE) is a globally recognised qualification. Though it is at the same level as the GCSE, it is intended to have a broader approach to learning, and greater international transferability, than traditional UK-based qualifications.


According to the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) examining board, the main awarding body of the IGCSE to UK schools, the IGCSE has become well established on the international education scene and is taught in more than 2,600 schools worldwide. Michael O’Sullivan, chief executive of the CIE, believes that the IGCSE helps students to gain a global perspective on their learning. “The desire to learn by looking beyond our own society is more evident than ever,” he says, “with more than a million pupils taking Cambridge examinations around the world. These students want to maximise their potential by having an education with international characteristics. This allows them to gain globally recognised


qualifications, and to look beyond their own country in their education.


“For pupils and their parents, education is the key to achieving personal goals, such as improved employment and higher-education prospects. Increasingly, those goals have a global perspective, and pupils want access to the world’s leading universities wherever they are. They see an international education as a means to achieve this.”


BENEFITING THE UK ECONOMY


Access to international higher education is becoming increasingly important for families across the globe, and many are looking to an education based on the UK curriculum to help their children acquire the qualifications necessary to gain entry into the top higher-education institutions. Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and former Minister of State for Universities, Science and Cities, believes that education is an important enabler of UK economic growth and one of the country’s most successful exports. “Education


is global,” said Mr Clark. “In


recognition of this, the government published its International Education Strategy, setting out the case and strategy for a step change in the way government supports the education sector to grow internationally.” Alongside the publication of the International Education


Strategy, the government department UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) established an education unit to support UK education and training organisations to win business overseas, with the aim of helping the sector to secure £3 billion of new business by 2020 as part of its 2020 Export Drive.


Durham School


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172