wenty years ago, as an English-speaking expatriate based in a non-English-speaking country, you considered yourself lucky if you could find an international school located close to your workplace. This meant that, instead of attending a boarding school in another country, your child could be with you during your travels and attend a school where the language of learning was English. Today, the options are very different. English-medium international schools abound throughout the world. If you live in Dubai, you now have the choice of more than 250 different English-speaking international schools. Dubai is not alone when it comes to providing


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multiple international schooling options. According to ISC Research, part of the International School Consultancy, which provides market intelligence and data on the world’s international schools, there are 21 cities throughout the world that have 50 or more international schools within their city limits.


As a result, depending upon your location, you may have a range of education possibilities for your child. Making the right choice between these options requires consideration of many factors, one of which should be the curriculum.


WHY IS CURRICULUM


AN IMPORTANT CHOICE? Curriculum defines a school. People talk about IB


World Schools, IPC, American or British international schools. The curriculum, in large part, sets international schools apart from each other, attracting staff as well as students and defining, to some extent, the school ethos. For expatriate families who may be required to relocate every few years, the curriculum can be one of the few ways of providing a common thread for a child in an otherwise ever-changing school life.


Globally mobile students benefit greatly from curriculum continuity when moving from one country to another, according to Eamonn Mullally, headteacher of the Edron Academy, a British school in Mexico City. “Such continuity provides a degree of familiarity for the students when so many other things in their lives are new and unfamiliar, helping them to adjust to their new schools with relative ease,” Mr Mullally says. “It also means that, for the new school, there is a greater understanding of assessment data provided by any previous institution.” There are four main reasons why expatriate families choose a school because of its curriculum, says Craig Johnson, superintendent of India’s American School of Bombay.


Top left: TASIS The American School in England Top right: International School of London Right: Marymount International School London


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