Establish the Verifiable Facts
“Just the facts, ma’am. ”
No matter what category of school you’ve applied to, you the candidate need a firm basis on which to evaluate quality. Upending your life and moving to the other side of the world without doing basic research is jumping from a plane without a parachute.
What’s your assurance that a particular school is not a terrible mistake? Your only defense is to judge quality against four metrics:
Verifiable facts
Accreditation
Curriculum and test results
Reviews
#1 Collect the Data
Governance
Consider governance to start. If there is no charter and no Board of Trustees or if this information is not available, you might want to re-think applying. Private single-owner or chain schools are not required to be transparent about decision-making; they own the school.
International School of Prague Board.
Compare this private governance model to an embassy school like the International School of Prague’s Board of Trustees. Ask yourself:
Is there a board at all and if yes, then who makes up its membership?
Does the school post this information?
Do parents of current students have board representation?
Basic Numbers and Information
Keep digging until you uncover and establish these data points. If you cannot find this information in online or print documentation, ask the school or current teachers.
Take nothing for granted. Facts are facts because they can be proven or disproven and which no amount of spin or PR can change. Take a look at this international schools database for parents to help them choose a school. It is one more source of data for prospective teachers, as well.
1. Nationality demographics - What is the percentage of host nationals? How many nationalities are represented?
2. Makeup and turnover of staff and administration - What is the administration and teacher turnover rate?
3. Growth and age of school - How many years has the school been in operation? Is enrollment growing, steady, or declining?
4. What are the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) scores and what percentage of students require ELL support?
5. Admissions policies - Is the school selective and does it require exams for admission? What about minimum levels of English-language facility required and at which grade levels?
6. What is the teacher workload (after-school activities and extracurricular?) What is the commitment and is the work paid?
7. Curriculum structure and support - If the school is IB or AP, what are the scores?
8. Accreditation - Is the school accredited? Which organizations?
9. What about the package (salary/benefits/other.)
#2 Accreditation
“Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”
Why Accreditation Is So Important
We have discussed the explosive growth in K12 International School market (nearly 60% increase from 2010 to 2018.) So in the mushrooming field of international schools, how on earth does a parent or teacher identify a good one?
Accreditation is one way a private school owner can compete and get a leg up on the competition. According to the market intelligence firm ISC, only 21.9 % of international schools are currently accredited. This means accreditation by an international agency would be a huge selling point.
This is not to mention accreditation’s main purpose - quality assurance. Parents who move often need standards and consistency in curriculum. But it also crucial for you, the teacher who is trying to evaluate whether a school is good enough to upend your life for an overseas adventure.
Accreditation Badge Is Not a Panacea
Accreditation is hardly a panacea or absolute proof that you will be happy working at a given school, but it is an important piece of data. At a minimum, it shows the school administration cared enough to expose the school to outside scrutiny.
Posting these markers is a badge of pride and a marketing tool for ISK.
If only 21.9% of international schools are accredited, does that mean that 78.1% are crap? Of course not, but lack of accreditation is a yellow flag. Schools which take the process seriously, like ISK (International School of Kenya) proudly post their results, partly as a marketing tool.
At the very least, prospective teachers ought to seek accreditation information and inquire if it is absent or hidden. If a school is attached to an Embassy or approved by the US State Department, accreditation is mandatory.
The Accreditation Process
Some of you may have been through the accreditation process, which begins with teachers and administrators assembling information beforehand or serving on the self-study committee to prepare for the visit, paying particular attention to results from the previous accreditation report. The curriculum director or an administrator will be in charge.
Every aspect of the school will be addressed, from facilities to financials to educational practice. Then the accreditation visit begins, with typically 6-8 outside experienced educators on the team.
They spend two days gathering data, observing, interviewing, and the next day planning their report, which is then written and presented to the board and administration.
Weaknesses of the Accreditation Process
Can be extremely time-consuming and take away instructional time.
May expose gaping holes in the school program.
May lay bare the fact that there really is no curriculum.
The accreditation team may just be tickled to have an overseas, all-expenses paid jaunt and they do not really look under the hood.
The process and results may prove a sham and be manipulated by administrators and/or owners.
Since international school turnover is typically 3-4 years, many staff members will have no basis to answer the questions.
If you read through the comment thread from ISR (International Schools Review) on this topic, you will read a great deal of grumbling. But do not ignore the informed comments from the positive side; these visits can be extremely valuable.
#3 Testing Schemes and Results
Order Out of Curriculum Chaos
Curriculum can be a fraught issue in the best of schools, and in the words of Kent Blakeney in Teaching Overseas: an Insider’s Perspective, “If there are any black holes or dark spots in overseas education, curriculum is one of them.”
One of the main reasons is turnover. Good grief. If the typical length of international school teacher stay is three years, who’s going to write curriculum for accreditation which occurs on a 10-year cycle with a refresher at the 5-year mark?
International school teachers also have a tendency to independence. Naturally: that’s why they teach in Bangladesh or Brussels. This translates to a sometimes home-made, very personal curriculum design.
Many teachers therefore won’t be interested in coordinating with the GR5 team, for instance, but instead want to teach their favorite thematic unit. Sometimes a written curriculum is entirely missing.
Add in two other complicating factors, and difficulties compound.
One is that the school will have most likely have a substantial percentage of students who lack English-language fluency.
The other is the process of obtaining teaching materials. A new textbook adoption, for instance, needs to be ordered and literally shipped (put on a ship), get through customs, arrive, be processed, and finally put to use, which can easily be a year-long timeframe.
Missing Structures
Public or state schools in your home country are restrained and corralled by laws and bureaucracies and an infrastructure largely missing in international schools. Your state or country schools will be governed by:
Department of Education (adopt textbooks statewide/set graduation requirements/publicly post school progress/ set learning goals and measure achievement and so forth)
Teacher Standards and Practices (certify teachers)
Federal or country-wide laws, like PL 94-192 (Special Education)
Labor laws, unions, grievance procedures, legal recourse
Given these features, how does an international school bring any kind of order out of this chaos? Two words: accreditation and testing. Accreditation means that an external structure has been imposed, no matter its weaknesses. But at least a written curriculum exists.
The other foundation is independent testing.
Exam Results
International school curricula generally come in three different flavors: IB, AP, or National (IGCSE, etc.) Each one features big serious tests with public results announced at the culmination of study. Therefore, testing schemes level the curriculum playing field in a big way.
There will be problems if…
A school offers IB or AP classes but none of the students get decent test results.
Students in a British curriculum fail to pass their IGCSE exams.
Few graduates are accepted at good universities.
Then teachers and administrators will be hounded by parents and the board, rightfully so. When you research a school or interview with the director, plan to find out what the curriculum picture is and the test results.
You’ll have to deal with the fallout every single day. Especially consider the implications of English language fluency in the context of a sophisticated curriculum. More on that in the next post.
#4 Online Presence and Reviews
School Online Presence
Digital natives are surely by now aware of web site red flags. For instance, 404 Page Not Found - clunky and hard to navigate - loads slowly - misspellings.
Other red flags peculiar to international schools are seeing the same blond Western child pop up over and over again (frequently a teacher’s kid.) You should also see accreditation badges if earned.
This thread from ISR (International Schools Review) points out some pitfalls in evaluating schools whose reviews seemed to have stopped and are not current at all. Does this mean a bad administration has stifled comment? Or the school is so small it’s difficult to conceal a teacher’s identity? Or disgruntled teachers have moved on and don’t feel the urge to complain anymore? Whatever the reason, out of date reviews are at least a yellow flag.
Staff directories and photos are probably going to be behind the school portal. In some countries staff information is hidden for fear of kidnapping or terrorism; in the EU such information is even illegal to post. However, I would certainly expect to see names of the Administration, maybe a statement of welcome or short bio.
It’s still a pig…
The usual grain of salt applies to the school website, since any owner can hire a talented web designer and create an entirely fictitious school. Just skim the site and see how many pieces of hard data you can uncover.
Perhaps a good reason to sign up with an agency.
Hint: the recruiting agencies ISS and Search Associates offer a firewall of protection since they screen the schools they represent. Search notes that they decline nearly 50% of the schools which apply. Search and ISS databases are also gold mines of the facts you need, all gathered in one place, perhaps a good reason to pay their fees whether you recruit at their fairs or not.
Validity of Review Sites - A Comparison
You can always start with Yelp and Google reviews, but you’ll get better information from dedicated international school sites. The biggest and most reputable is ISR (International Schools Review.) They have the most reviews of schools and administrators, as well as a deep archive of articles and forums, all for $29. Some of its forums are free but frustrating to navigate.
Important research tool since 2003; priceless at $29.
ISR - International Schools Review
Comparing two sample review from competing review sites is illuminating. Below is ISR’s review of APIS (American Pacific International School) which is pretty thorough and in-depth, although not recent.
Please take note of the questions and issues this school review addresses below. These are questions you should also ask in your search.
ISC - International School Community
By comparison, its competition the ISC (International School Community) review of the same school is very thin. ISC also costs $50, almost twice as much and always seems to be begging for subscribers. However, it does contain plenty of useful information.
Strategies Without Online Reviews, and Caveats
Just remember that online review sites frequently skew to the negative. This happens with anonymous posters, I guess. Same grain of salt as above; satisfied teachers tend not to post.
Hint: once you’ve gotten that first overseas job, in future you can call on your own network of contacts. Somebody knows about the school and would be happy to dish. Just ask. Or fire up social media and post your questions.
You should also ask the recruiter to provide you with contact information for current staff, especially the person you’d be replacing. If they do not oblige, that’s at least a yellow flag.
Due Diligence
“Eyes wide open
”
International schools lie along the Bell Curve (some awful, some fabulous, most in-between.) To sort out which is which, do two things before deciding to apply at a given school, especially a for-profit school.
To summarize:
Thoroughly research the factors described in this post before making the leap. (facts/accreditation/testing/reviews.)
Decide what exactly you are willing to tolerate to teach overseas. Then decide if the school is a good match for you.