March 11, 2003

The new school ties

PHOTO COURTESY OF MENTOR INTERNATIONAL

A recent exhibition in Bangkok of British boarding schools showed how the UK’s most hallowed institutions are keeping up with the times

Story and pictures by IAN DOUGLAS
For many Thais, schooling in the UK has become something of a tradition. King Chulalongkorn’s trips to Victorian England set the precedent and led to educational visits by ministers and civil servants. Next the children of the affluent and, more recently, the middle classes set their sights on the UK as an educational destination. British boarding schools, with their reputation for muddy playing fields and draughty dorms, became regarded as the best schooling money can buy.

In modern times this love of UK schools has gone from strength to strength. The boom of the English language and the influence of globalisation have boosted demand for overseas education. But how are the boarding schools, with their elitist image, coping with the changes? What do they have to offer the child of the twenty-first century?

Some of the UK's top boarding schools recently participated in an exhibition in Bangkok. The idea was to provide parents and their children a chance to find out more about the boarding experience.

Surrounded by glossy posters and stacks of brochures, school headmasters and counsellors chatted enthusiastically about the pros and cons of an overseas placement. Amid this sea of information overload, the learning post had one simple question: Why send our children to a boarding school in the UK?

Jonathon McKeown, Director, Warminster International Study Centre.

"The obvious reason is to speak English fluently," says Jonathon McKeown, Director of Warminster International Study Centre. "Even an international school in Thailand cannot create that authentic native speaker environment. At a British boarding school however, English is spoken not just in the classroom but everywhere."

But there’s more to gain than language skills. McKeown believes Thai parents want their children to absorb different cultural values. In doing this the children broaden their horizons. The experiences they bring back to Thailand are enriching.

The benefits don't stop at cultural experience either, McKeown says. Western education, he argues, teaches critical thinking and British-schooled youngsters develop analytical, enquiring and debating skills. The end goal is to maximise the students’ abilities for a successful future.

FROM LEFT: Ian Bushell, Senior Consultant, Pippa Watt, UK Director of Counselling, and John Kelly, Managing Director, Mentor International.

Ian Bushell, Senior Consultant at Mentor, the exhibition organisers, went further. "Success in a UK boarding school guarantees entry into a good university," Bushell said. "This in turn leads to good employment."

Other educators agreed. "The education is of a high quality, the young people learn critical thinking and it’s character building," says Anne-Marie Slack of Sherbourne International College. "Boarding schools teach leadership skills, self-reliance and independence. The environment inspires them with an interest in life and they are exposed to all kinds of hobbies and sports. Moreover, they’ll acquire good connections that will stand them in good stead in later life."

Anna Marie Slack from Sherbourne International College.

Many educators highlighted this same link between good schooling, a good university and a good career. In the UK there is a phrase for it, "old school ties." It refers to the links that students from the same school maintain with each other in later life.

Pippa Watt, Mentor’s UK Director of Counselling, is confident that children in British boarding schools are incredibly well-looked after. "The accommodation is excellent, The UK schools are the best for pastoral care and boarding facilities," she assures ". The schools are always striving to help the children improve their exam results. For those roving expat families, boarding school offers the needed stability often missing at home."

The modern boarding school

While British boarding schools conjure up the nostalgia of Tom Brown’s Schooldays and Goodbye Mr. Chips, how does the reality measure up in the new millennium?

If the exhibition is any indication, the schools are keeping abreast of the latest reforms while preserving their famed traditional life.

The Warminster International Study Centre is one of six accredited international study centres in the UK. An international study centre (ISC) is a type of international boarding school that has developed to meet the changing market. The Warminster ISC is independent of the original Warminster School, but closely linked.

The ISC provides a "soft landing" for foreign students arriving in the UK school system, McKeown says. English for Academic Purposes (EAP), science, maths and IT are the subjects taught in the small classes. Music and sports programmes are shared with the main Warminster School. Although not formally taught, acculturation, such as UK social courtesies or UK teacher expectations, is implicitly learned alongside the academic curriculum.

When the student is ready, the Warminster ISC refers students on to other boarding schools. Naturally, but not necessarily, that may be Warminster main school itself.

"Part of my job is to give free advice to our students as to the school in the UK that most suits them," McKeowns explains. "We also offer IELTS and IGSC maths to help students gain a place elsewhere in the country."

Sherbourne School is another famous name in the ISC field.

"Our syllabus is modelled on the full British curriculum, but with one important difference: All our teachers are qualified EFL teachers as well as qualified high school teachers," Slack says. "This means not only can they teach regular academic subjects, but they have the EFL methodology to teach non-native students."

Regular high school teachers teach, primarily, by explanation, while EFL teachers teach by demonstration.

However, most boarding schools integrate their foreign students within the school as opposed to offering an ISC. Even so, most are well versed at caring for the foreign child’s needs and offer the full curriculum of examination subjects in a student-centred environment.

Caring for students

Anne Harris, Headmistress, Moira House.

Ann Harris, the Headmistress from Moira House, stresses the need for pastoral care at boarding schools. Moira House has experienced counsellors at hand to help with homesickness, cultural stress and all the growing pains associated with childhood. The school also employs staff that have spent time in the Thai international system, helping them to better understand the needs of Thai students.

These days most independent schools prefer that children from overseas have a volunteer guardian in the UK who can act as an advocate. This is an individual or family member who can liase with the school about academic and welfare matters. They can attend sports days or take the child out on birthdays and bank holidays. Naturally, such a person helps put the distant parents’ minds at rest. The good news is that even if you know no one in the UK, the school will have contacts with accredited organisations that provide suitable guardians.

Surviving School

School representatives also provide tips for young Thais wanting to study in the UK. There are many issues for parents and students to think about.

"I always ask parents two questions when I first meet them. Can you afford it? And is your child ready for it?" Watts says. She recommends parents visit schools in advance, to see for themselves. "Brochures can be misleading."

Once there, a few practical ideas can help. While it may sound obvious, Thais must remember to bring warm clothing. They’ll need to acclimatise to wearing two or three layers of warm clothing during the chilly seasons.

Punctuality is another hallmark of British character. Thai students need to adjust to arriving exactly on time for class. Turning up for class late may invoke the teacher’s wrath and cause disappointing grades.

In class, students are expected to ask questions. Outside they will have tons of homework to keep them busy. They are expected to do this on their own.

Sometimes the children are not used to taking care of domestic chores, for example tidying up around the dorm. This is something that will change quickly upon settling into the school environment.

Despite the cultural differences and the adjustments needed to ensure success, all the delegates spoke warmly of the pleasure of teaching Thais. Students from the Kingdom have earned a reputation in the UK for politeness, graciousness, sociability and enthusiasm. It seems the enrichment is a two way process.

Thailand’s young people boarding in the UK, whether they realise it or not, act as ambassadors for their home culture. And most delegates agree that the young Thai ambassadors are doing a great job.

Finding the right school

Some parents prefer to find and interact with prospective schools on their own. For others, however, the process is so overwhelming they would rather employ an agency.

One such education consultancy firm is Mentor International on Soi Ton Son off Ploenchit Road. The company has been around since 1986 and has links with schools and universities throughout the UK, Australia, the USA and New Zealand. In the UK alone it liases with more than 60 agencies.

Since its inception, Mentor has become one of the largest and most respected education consultancy firms in Thailand. Its counselling services are free, it is the schools that pay Mentor a commission.

Over time, Mentor International has expanded to open offices in Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Rangoon. Mentor attributes this success to its close links with overseas academic institutions and the quality of services they provide to students and their families. Mentor says its strength is matching the right students with the right schools.

Mentor is not only a placement firm. It also continues to help students once they are overseas. Pippa Watt, Mentor’s Director of Counselling in the UK, says her job is to visit schools to support students and school staff. The Bangkok staff too, make frequent trips to the UK to keep a close and personal relationship with schools. Watt says many parents find it reassuring to know that the staff have actually been to the schools they talk about.

Mentor also acts as a consultant to schools and colleges in what has become a fiercely competitive market. They work with Thai and Asian universities looking to hook up to the international arena. Currently they are partnering with Chiang Mai University to create more opportunities for local student access to education.

Making the decision to send a child overseas is a monumental one. Exhibitions like the recent Mentor event allow parents to meet the very people who will be responsible for their child’s care. Exhibitions give parents the chance to discuss face-to-face with schools and have all their questions and concerns addressed.

While topnotch British boarding schools do not come cheaply, visitors to exhibitions will probably come away with a distinct impression that in terms of exam results, activities and boarding facilities, boarding schools continue to offer one of the best educations that money can buy.

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