Considering an International School?

Having spent about half of my years as a head of school on the west coast of the United States, and the other half working internationally, I’ve often received raised eyebrows and the question, “Why the international stint?” There used to be a significant divide between those working in US schools and those on the overseas “circuit.” Interestingly enough, we’ve seen our RG175 database become increasingly populated by educators working in international schools, and are seeing more international educators take on roles in US independent schools.

With that in mind, here is a rudimentary primer on what to know about international schools.

First off, although there are international schools more than 75 years old, the great majority of American international schools were founded post-WWII when American businessmen (yes, mainly “men”) were starting to be sent overseas for the oil industry or finance or other international business ventures. (The American School of Paris was founded in 1947, the American School in London in 1951, the American Overseas School in Rome in 1947, American School of Warsaw in 1953, and so forth.) The establishment of US Embassies around the world also presented the need for educating American children accompanying their families overseas as well. The US Department of State sent support to these schools, as they do to many schools to this day.

The American families relocating overseas needed good schools—with familiar teaching methods and curriculum—and many of the first administrators sent overseas were public school superintendents. (That said, the American School in London was founded by a former teacher from Allen Stevenson School in NYC who was in London, working for the Red Cross and the BBC.) In many ways, international schools have always been a hybrid of public and independent schools: the heads of school, often called superintendents or directors, took on the responsibility for instructional leadership as well as operations and were rarely called upon to do any fund-raising because tuitions were paid by corporations and there were no tax incentives to leave a “gap” between tuition and the cost of educating a child. (This is changing as international schools see the advantage of asking families for donations for projects or programs of interest, not unlike foundations that are set up for public schools in some districts.) Boards at international schools are often elected, although some Boards have a few self-perpetuating members chosen.

Small class sizes were a special feature of the overseas schools, and then, of course, the adventures! Third-grade field trips into central London, athletic tournaments in Frankfurt, hiking trips in the Alps, service trips to Nepal, ecology trips to Africa. Truth is, the adventures were also appealing to teachers and administrators. One senior leader I hired said that working in London was like being on “a working vacation!”

The rise of the TCK, the “third culture kid,” became a topic for educators and families in international schools. If a young person has a US passport but has lived in Dubai, Amsterdam, and Singapore and never in mainland America, where is “home?” In many ways, the international community at the school becomes the “home” for young people. And it’s probably no surprise the international school graduates gravitate to living in international student housing during college. Their life experience has been significantly different from students who grow up in suburban America. (Both of my own children, now adults, studied internationally for grad school, having spent two years in London for elementary and middle school.)

There is more to this topic: the astronomical rise of for-profit schools internationally, the interplay of various curricular pathways for students… it goes on and on. Safe to say, working overseas is an adventure worth exploring.

RG175 consultant Coreen R. Hester is the former head of school at The American School in London and The Hamlin School in California.