All parents want their children to have a quality education, and when they are paying six-digit fees to international schools they expect the very best. But selecting a school that ensures the best academic experience and a good shot at entering a top-ranked university is not easy. As with any other product, parents want to know they're getting value for their money.
International school students usually graduate with an internationally recognised certificate such as A-levels for the British curriculum, Cambridge IGSCE, US high school diploma, or an International Baccalaureate (IB). These cannot be earned within a national system and are deemed more attractive to world-class universities such as Harvard or Cambridge.
The formation of the Asean Economic Community will spur more cross-border business activity that will require fluency in English as the region's lingua franca. Many wealthy and middle-class parents are setting out to equip the next generation with the essential skills they will need.
"The international curriculum guides students on a practical level in terms of doing rather than memorising as in the Thai education system which is quite outdated," said one Thai mother whose daughter went to International School Bangkok (ISB).
"Academically, it offers the ability to practise English all the time and to be familiar with it. Culturally, the students are diverse. They are being enabled to learn and adapt to different cultures, people and nationalities which can be beneficial in their future careers."
Another family chose to send their two sons to ISB because they wanted the children to study in their home country, and to be able to watch their progress and monitor their behaviour. They also liked the diversity of nationalities and the social mix. "[My parents] also looked at who sends their kids to that school, social class so to speak," one of the sons said.
Some schools allow local students to make up 70% or more of the total enrollment but others apply lower caps as they want more diversity.
While hefty fees are a concern for some, once parents have decided to make the financial commitment, their biggest concerns shift to learning facilities, curriculum, and teachers' qualifications.
Students at international schools usually have more opportunity to engage in extracurricular activities. Complete swimming facilities, an indoor theatre, tennis courts and an orchestra rehearsal room are typical in top-tier international schools.
At lower-tier schools, facilities may not be as lavish, and they also cannot match the salaries that the top schools are willing to pay for the very best teachers. Consequently, their fees will be lower.
LUCRATIVE BUSINESS
International school fees in Thailand range from 150,000 to 869,000 baht a year. This does not include registration, building management and host of other fees.
Tuition at International School Bangkok (ISB) ranges from 478,000 to 869,000 baht per year. Shrewsbury International School Bangkok, owned by the Sophonpanich family, the major shareholders of Bangkok Bank, charges an estimated average of 600,000 baht per person annually and has 1,630 students. That produces estimated annual revenue of 1 billion baht.
"The pricing point is related directly to recruiting and retaining the best teachers. The high fee that top-tier schools charge is because we have to constantly invest in the teachers, facilities and other resources in the school," says Stephen Holroyd, principal of Shrewsbury International School Bangkok.
According to the International Schools Association of Thailand (ISAT), yearly tuition fees in Thailand are US$3,000 to $7,000 cheaper than in other Asian countries (see table).
From the data complied by Asia Focus, international schools usually spend between 60% and 85% of annual expenditure on staff, especially on teachers who have the experience required by the curriculum and accreditation agencies.
Another very important selection factor is who is running the school. In the last few decades, there has been a big rise in the number of for-profit schools, many of them established by wealthy business families. The traditional not-for-profit schools are often overseen by a management board, rather than a single private proprietor.
"Potentially, I think [an international school] is a lucrative business. But the bottom line is, whether it's for-profit or not-for-profit, if the school doesn't manage its finances well, then it's simply not going to thrive," says Philippa Leggate, head of CfBT, a UK-based international school accreditation agency that does inspections in Thailand.
The intention of owners is important, in her view.
"There are some people who believe passionately that education is important, and they want to create opportunities and offer something that is of immense value to young people, and perhaps as a business," she said.
The prospect of lucrative returns has been spurring local public and private schools in Thailand to offer English programmes or even "international" programmes to woo middle-class parents, or simply to make money. They lack the learning facilities of the top-tier international schools and thus charge lower fees.
A public school in Bangkok's Dusit district, for instance, charges about 200,000 baht per year for its international programme certified for the Cambridge curriculum. A girls' private school in the capital also offers an English programme that costs about 180,000 a year. Students share facilities such as a cafeteria, gymnasium and computer rooms with students of a regular Thai programme.
However, for international schools, "certain types of fees are charged, so that they can afford the best-quality teachers and facilities. But they can only charge that amount of fees once they have a recognised, accredited programme" said Richard Gaskell, director for international schools at the International School Consultancy (ISC) Group.
ASSURING QUALITY
Accreditation, especially from a foreign body, is an important element for families to consider. Schools that fail to pay adequate attention to budget management and maintenance will be at risk of losing or not receiving accreditation.
In Thailand, schools can operate for seven years without accreditation. But if there is no accreditation after seven years, the school licence will be taken away.
Despite the allowance period, "we would expect all schools to work toward accreditation, so they would have to demonstrate that they were reaching the appropriate standards in the key areas," Ms Leggate of CfBT told Asia Focus.
"We have taken steps of not accrediting schools in Thailand. It's not an ideal threat but we believe it's important that schools have to be as good as possible for students."
Thailand has a local independent quality assurance agency known as the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (Onesqa) to inspect schools including international schools.
The Education Ministry also authorises four other international accreditation bodies including CfBT, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and the Council of International Schools (CIS).
These agencies inspect schools every three to five years after they grant initial accreditation approval. Regulations on compulsory accreditation and international agencies allowed vary from country to country.
"I wish more people saw that quality assurance is important because, by not wanting to be accredited to avoid paying high teachers' salaries, that is actually taking a lot of money out of schools," said Mr Gaskell from ISC.
"Parents want the peace of mind that the school has independently been inspected, not the school or government saying how wonderful they are."
DEFINING 'INTERNATIONAL'
An international school is much more than an educational institution with an English-speaking environment. In most cases, it probably has a mixture of nationalities attending and is run with an international curriculum.
In Asia, the UK national curriculum is the most popular, offered all or in part by 46% of all international schools. Other popular options (in descending order) are a US-oriented curriculum, the IB, and to a lesser extent the Indian National Curriculum, Montessori method, Cambridge Primary, and International Primary Curriculum as well as a few others, according to ISC.
In Southeast Asia, 42% of schools follow, entirely or in part, the UK National Curriculum, followed by the US-style curriculum and the IB. In addition, 22% are bilingual, meaning that they run the national curriculum concurrently.
At international schools operating entirely in an English-speaking environment, teachers tend to be from the country where the curriculum originated, or from other native English-speaking countries, according to CfBT.
"If the school chooses its curriculum, we would be asking how well is that curriculum meeting the needs of the students who attend?" Ms Leggate said, adding that the school must also promote and support personal development of students in ways that yield tangible results.
For most international schools — and for most parents in the market — college and university placements are a very important measure of success. Top-tier schools aim to send their students to top universities across the world.
Other areas that parents should look at include the quality and adequacy of a school's physical and human resources, and its commitment to child protection. A school also should have a positive relationship with the community, and strong leadership and management.