This is the first of a three-part series on choosing the right international school for your first move abroad. Parts 2 and 3, on life beyond the classroom and on management and autonomy, will follow over the coming months.

Part 1: Academic Culture in International Schools

The school that suited me almost perfectly on my first international move was one a colleague found far less comfortable. I had spent nearly my entire career in high-performing grammar and independent schools, and went looking for the same culture, plus the travel and leadership opportunities the international sector offers. The right school group made that surprisingly easy to find. My colleague, who joined from a different kind of school, had a very different experience, and it had nothing to do with their ability as a teacher.

International schools vary far more than most people realise, and when a teacher fails to thrive in one, the cause is rarely experience or qualifications. It is usually a cultural mismatch. For teachers, as for students and parents, there is no single best kind of international school. It is as much a question of fit as of quality. The task before your first move is to work out which types of institutions will bring out the best in you, personally and professionally.

That is harder than it sounds, and can involve some cognitive dissonance. In my experience, many educators define themselves according to the kind of environment they currently work in, and it is not always clear whether the school shaped the teacher or the teacher chose the school. Stepping back from that and starting with a truly blank canvas can mean questioning parts of your professional identity. It is tempting to answer as the teacher you tell yourself (and others) you are, rather than the one you actually are, and to end up choosing a school for a version of you that doesn’t exist.

It helps to have something concrete to test yourself against. Three aspects are worth thinking through: the kind of academic culture you want to be part of, how much time and energy you want to commit beyond the classroom, and the types of leadership and management you work best with. Each is a spectrum with teachers thriving at both ends and all points in between; the key is establishing where you sit. Once you know that, it becomes much easier to judge how closely a school matches your preferences in a given sphere. Most of what you need to make an informed decision can be found in the job advert, the website, and the conversations at the interview.

‘Academic’ can mean two very different things

The first question to ask about academic culture, and perhaps the easiest to answer from outside, is how hard the school pushes for measurable outcomes. At one end of the spectrum, results, university destinations and parental expectations shape much of daily life. Academic pursuits take priority over other activities and teachers are held closely accountable for their students’ performance. At the other, examination results matter but do not dominate. School life has a different balance and students spend a larger proportion of their time on co-curricular sport, the arts and other enrichment activities.

An outcomes-focused culture rewards teachers who are comfortable being judged on results, at the cost of frequent and sometimes difficult conversations with ambitious students and parents. A broader one leaves more room for holistic work and different interests, but can frustrate a teacher who thrives on academic ambition.

My colleague’s experience shows how sharply this can land. Almost as soon as they arrived in the school I was working in, they faced pressure from their Year 13 students and their parents about predicted grades and university applications. For me, this was the norm, but my new colleague was uncomfortable having those conversations. They did not enjoy the academic focus of the environment, because they wished to dedicate more of their time to supporting their students’ personal and social activities. Neither they nor the school had done anything wrong. The intensity that made the environment right for me was precisely what made it wrong for my colleague.

The second question is whether going beyond the prescribed curriculum, for teachers and students alike, is the exception or the norm. At one end are schools built around the specification, where the syllabus and its assessment objectives define what is taught and to what depth, and success means mastering what will be examined. At the other are scholarly cultures, where the curriculum documentation is a floor rather than a ceiling: teaching regularly reaches beyond it, and courses are shaped by the subject’s wider debates and the interests of the students. Either can sit alongside intense or modest pressure for results.

A scholarly culture rewards teachers who love their subject beyond the specification, but asks for sustained intellectual engagement in return, and this can be taxing for those who see themselves as teacher first, academic second. A more specification-focused one offers clarity and a well-worn route to results, but can feel narrow to a teacher who came into the profession for the love of their subject more than the pedagogy.

Finding your fit in the international school community

Ask yourself:

• Do you prefer working with students who focus on improving their work and getting better marks, or those who ask tangential questions that lead to interesting conversations but perhaps take the lesson off track?
• Are you more excited by the latest pedagogical research, or the latest news in your main academic subject?
• How comfortable are you being judged on your students’ results, and fielding conversations about grades with (perhaps overly) ambitious students and their parents?
• During a lunch break, would you rather run a revision session, a discussion of the news of the day or a service activity?

Look for:

• Where the school’s language about teaching and learning puts its emphasis: rigour and scholarship, inquiry and independence, or wellbeing and the whole child. Most schools mention all three; what matters is which comes first and most often.
• Which student successes the school celebrates most on its website and social media: exam results and university offers, academic competitions and work beyond the syllabus, or sport, the arts and service.
• How prominently exam results and university destinations feature on the website, and how much detail the school publishes about them.
• The wider academic culture of the country and its families, which often shapes parental expectations more than the school’s own statements do.

Ask at interview:

• What a successful student looks like here. Listen for whether the answer emphasises outcomes, curiosity or character.
• How free teachers are to go beyond the curriculum, and whether doing so is actively encouraged or simply accepted.
• How the school handles students and parents who challenge grades and reports, and how far teachers are supported in those conversations.
• Expectations around homework and academic engagement outside of lessons.

Academic culture shapes teaching and learning, but the job never ends there. The next post in this series will turn to what the school asks of you beyond the classroom.

About the author

Rob Earl is an independent adviser to international schools and education groups, based in Budapest. He began his career teaching economics and business in the UK, before senior leadership roles at British international schools in South Korea and Singapore and a year as Academic Director for a new education group in Vietnam. earl.pro