Negotiating the international school maze

This, of course, means more choice for parents who are thinking of sending their children to an international school. But more choice does not always make life simpler, especially when international schools come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes of varying quality.

I’ve often wondered how on earth, as a parent, you begin to work out exactly which school would be right for your child.

It’s fairly easy if you can get a school recommended. But even so, it’s important to make sure that a particular school will be right for your child. For example, while a friend’s child may function well in a large school, your own child might prefer to be in a more intimate and personable environment.

The size of the school, though, is only one part of the difficult equation confronting parents. There’s also the type of curriculum to consider, the educational philosophy, the school’s resources, the location, and the fees, to name but a few. All well and good if you have a working knowledge of the international school circuit, as is the case with many expatriate parents, but a real maze of information if you’re new to it all.

Thankfully, there are people out there who can help. And that includes us here at learning post. For the past three years, we have been publishing articles that seek to answer those questions parents new to the international system may have. Such features include the difference between the American and British curriculums as well as profiles of schools with all sorts of diverse approaches to educating young people.

So, how can you access this wealth of information? Well, thanks to the Internet, every cover feature ever published in learning post is accessible by visiting our website at www.bangkokpost.com/education. Once there, you’ll need to click on the “Education in Thailand” link towards the top right-hand side of our homepage.

You’ll notice we’ve categorised all our cover features according to subject matter. Scroll down to the “International School” section where you’ll find articles sub-divided into categories such as “British orientated programme” or “International Baccalaureate programme”.

When you find a topic that interests you, click on the date on the left-hand side and the article in question will appear on your screen. It’s as simple as that!

Please remember, however, that things change, so the information contained in some of the older articles may not be quite up-to-date. To be sure that information is current, you could either directly contact the institution covered in the article or, better still, consult their website. Any international school worth its salt will go to some lengths to maintain a professional Internet presence. If it hasn’t, it may indicate the kind of attention paid to other aspects of their business, including the quality of education they offer.

While you should be able to find some useful resources in our archives, there is still a lot of information to digest. If you remain confused after browsing through some of the relevant features, you might want to look out for an article on the cover of learning post scheduled for next month. In the article, we will look at parents’ most pertinent questions regarding the international school system.

We here at learning post are committed to reporting on all the latest information and issues affecting education, both in the national and international system. If you have any suggestions for articles that you think would be useful to others as they decide which school is best for their children, let us know.

Happy hunting!
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If you have any queries or comments about this article, you can email us at learningpost@bangkokpost.co.th. Please note that we are unable to enter into any correspondence or make recommendations about whether a particular schools or system is better or worse than others.