What reasons do parents think about when selecting a school for their children when they move abroad? Are they similar reasons for why teachers choose to work at an international school abroad as well? There are many different kinds of international schools and they are all in different situations. How important is finding out about how well the international school provides or has access to qualified teachers who cater to students with special needs? It could be beneficial to ask these types of questions at your interview, before you make any big decisions to move or choose an international school at which to work. So, how do you choose the right international school for your children to attend or for you to work at? In this blog series, we will discuss the Tips for Selecting an International School.
Tip #12 – Is the school parent-friendly?
It is essential that the international school you are considering (whether for work or for your child’s education) communicates effectively with parents. Keeping parents well-informed about school policies, events, and developments ensures they feel more at ease, especially when unexpected changes occur at the school.
Some might argue that parents at international schools are more, if not much more, invested in what happens at their child’s school compared to others. While most international schools hold two parent-teacher conferences per year, these meetings often last as little as 20 minutes—hardly enough time to cover everything you’d like to discuss.
However, in an international school setting, you may find yourself meeting with parents more frequently than just during these scheduled conferences. Many international school parents request additional meetings before or after school to “catch up” on their child’s progress and share updates from home. While these extra meetings can be beneficial for everyone involved, it’s wise to ensure they don’t become too frequent. You don’t want to find yourself constantly arranging extra meetings! Some international school parents, especially those with a stay-at-home spouse, might have plenty of time to meet with you. I once worked with a teacher who refused to give out his email address to parents for this reason. While email communication is often an efficient way to stay in touch, some parents might take advantage of having direct access to your inbox.
Many international schools provide an online, password-protected portal for parents to stay informed and up to date with school news. These platforms are a great resource for sharing information, including newsletters, photos, videos, and curriculum updates. Having a central hub for communication helps parents access the information they need whenever they want.
Even when a school has an effective communication system in place, there will always be some parents who don’t engage. Communication is a two-way street, and some parents may have other priorities or simply don’t utilize the tools provided. Recently, we had a parent come in, expressing frustration about not knowing what their child was learning. When we asked if they had been using the online parent portal, they admitted they hadn’t even looked at it.
So, how parent-friendly is your international school?
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Have a specific international school in mind that you are thinking of applying to? Check out our “Where our Members have worked” page and start contacting some of our members who know about the international school you are interested in knowing more about. Our 30000 members currently work at (or have worked at in the past) 1200+ different international schools. Feel free to send them a private message related to finding out more about how parent-friendly their international school is.
Furthermore, we have a comment topic section that is for parents to fill out or for teachers to share more information about how parent-friendly their international school is. It is called: PARENTS ONLY – General comments from parents of students that go to this school. Here are a few comments that have been submitted in that section:
“At the old school in Tay Ho, VAIS, many parents withdrew their kids due to complaints that the Korean CEO who decided he was qualified to teach TOEFL prep classes so he could save on a qualified teacher, would openly cuss the students out in Korean during class and many students complained the class was more a Korean discussion class than an English one. He does not manage those classes any longer and thankfully so.” – Vietnam American International School (131 Total Comments)
“As a teacher/parent, I felt my kids had a solid group of other teachers’ kids to hang out with. There is a solid community feel in general and it is a welcoming atmosphere.” – Anglo-American School of Sofia (90 Total Comments)
“Decisions made at the school are mostly knee-jerk reactions, and seem not to have a lot of fore-thought. This results in confusion and frustration, with parents, students and staff unclear where the boundaries are.” – Oeiras International School (224 Total Comments)
10 Informative Member-Submitted Comments from September 2024
Our new blog series will review the most informed member-submitted comments from a specific month. This article looks at the ones submitted in September 2024.
We ask our members to submit comments that are detailed and full of useful information. With these informative comments submitted into our 71 comment topics about each school, ISC is the place to go to get the information you want, fast!
So here is the list for September 2024 that we thought stuck out as the most informative comments:
What are some local customs (regarding eating, drinking and going out, family, socializing, etc.) that you find interesting for expats to know about?
“Nigerians greet everyone. It is considered very rude to walk past a Nigerian in the hallway at school and not properly greet them, including asking them how their family is doing. Victoria Island is a bubble, so you can really isolate yourself from Nigerian culture if you want. Additionally, there are so many ethnic groups in Nigeria that describing their local customs in a monolith is pretty challenging…”
American International School of Lagos (80 total comments) in Lagos, Nigeria
Recent things that the school has taken on (i.e. new curriculum, specific professional development, etc.).
“This school year, we have implemented and rolled out a House System to build a stronger sense of community and promote student engagement. In this system, students and teachers are grouped into different “houses,” each competing in a variety of activities such as academics, sports, and extracurricular events. This school year, we have implemented and rolled out a House System to build a stronger sense of community and promote student engagement. In this system, students are grouped into different “houses,” each competing in a variety of activities such as academics, sports, and extracurricular events…”
American International School of Bucharest (85 total comments) in Bucharest, Romania
Describe the language abilities of students at this school and what is the “common language spoken in the hallways”. Is there one dominant cultural group?
“The common language used in this school is English. The school has an English-only policy, thus everyone uses English fluently in school. However, the students are mostly Korean…”
Seoul Academy International School (4 total comments) in Seoul, South Korea
Average monthly salary after taxes and in what currency (explain taxation situation). How often do you get paid throughout the year?
“A teacher without a TLR can expect to take home around 14-16,000 ringgit per month after tax, which includes housing allowances. In addition to this, the EPF (Malaysia’s retirement fund) plays a significant role in your overall package. Roughly 3,000 ringgit will be automatically deducted from your salary for EPF, but this is separate from the 14-16,000 ringgit mentioned earlier. The school also contributes about 11% of your salary into the EPF fund, with an annual interest rate of approximately 5-8%. When considering the overall package, especially with these contributions, it compares very favourably with other locations…”
Alice Smith School (121 total comments) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Describe what kinds of teachers work here (local vs. expat, qualifications [or lack there of], etc.) and staff turnover rate. Is there a native English speaker or nationality requirement? Is it LGBT friendly country/school?
“Teachers are mostly local hires (Ghanaian) but there is a host of expat teaching staff from the UK, America, Canada, India, the Caribbean, South Africa, Nigeria etc. Lessons are taught in English so you need to have a good command of the English language (both written and spoken). Ghana legally frowns upon the LGBT community…”
Ghana International School (47 total comments) in Accra, Ghana
What advice can you give on how to set things up like internet, phone, experience dealing with landlord, etc.?
“The main dealers are a company called AIS, all of their big outlets have English speaking staff and you can normally get set up within a week. Landlords are different according to where you live. Some good, perhaps some not so…”
Regents School Bangkok (45 total comments) in Bangkok, Thailand
Detailed info about lifestyles: singles vs. couples, gay vs. straight, nightlife vs. quiet and big city vs nature.
“Unfortunately being gay is not really accepted in the local community. However, there is a growing number of LGBTQI+ expats and most expats in general are quite accepting. Gay marriage is still illegal…”
Cedar International School (54 total comments) in Tortola, Virgin Islands, British
Health insurance and medical benefits. Describe your experiences using these benefits and going to the local hospitals.
“There is public health in Spain, however waiting times are long. Brewster offers private insurance as a benefit, which is not at all common in schools in Spain…”
Brewster Madrid (5 total comments) in Madrid, Spain
Average monthly salary after taxes and in what currency (explain taxation situation). How often do you get paid throughout the year?
“There is a salary review and a small bump after the first year. Foreign teachers still have the same salary as stated below. Be mindful as local teachers report that the social insurances has again not been paid…”
Utahloy International School (Zengcheng) (176 total comments) in Zengcheng, China
Describe the school’s location in relation to the city center and to the teacher’s housing. How do staff get to school before and after school?
“School is relatively easy to get into town (20 min on the train to Shinjuku). It is a 20 min walk to the station however. No housing allowance is offered, but there is a travel allowance…”
Aoba Japan International School (61 total comments) in Tokyo, Japan.