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Education
For an expatriate family, the continuing,
effective education of children is one of the
most pressing concerns. And very often it is difficult
indeed to find an adequate solution without breaking
the bank.
This section is designed to help
expatriate parents understand the ways in which
they can approach the education of their children.
Money,
while an important aspect of educating the children
of expatriates, may often not be the primary issue,
since employers often take on the extra costs
that are involved. More worrying is how to manage
the long separations that are involved in maintaining
contact with children left behind at boarding
school or in the care of relatives, or if they
are to be educated locally, in finding suitable
schools. Then, for very peripatetic expats, there
is the wrenching need to move the children frequently
from school to school and from culture to culture.
The
International Schools movement offers solutions
in many of these situations. Here are some links
to organizations broadly linked to that movement:
The
European Council of International Schools
provides services to support professional development,
curriculum and instruction, leadership and good
governance in international schools located in
Europe and around the world. ECIS says that its
schools are committed to the promotion of an international
outlook amongst all members of their communities,
and that their staff and students are characterized
by knowledge of, and respect for, the beliefs
and values of their own and other cultures and
by the willingness to acknowledge the existence
and necessity of a range of perspectives.
The
International Baccalaureat Organization currently
works with 1,895 schools in 124 countries to develop
and offer programmes to more than 487,000 students
aged 3 to 19 years. Says its Director, Dr Seefried:
'What started as an education of the citizen in
a local or state context has to now embrace not
only an education for national citizenship but
also a cosmopolitan sense of civic responsibilities.
In a much enlarged global context, the teaching
of ethics and ethical decision-making has to be
grounded in the shared values of our common world
heritage and traditions of learning.'
The
International Schools Association has a general
brief to support the development of international
schools and was instrumental in the development
of the International Baccalaureate Organization
(see above). It is linked to UNESCO.
International
Schools Services, founded in 1955 in Princeton,
New Jersey, is dedicated to educational excellence
for children attending international schools worldwide.
ISS plans and manages schools throughout the world
for companies, individuals, and consortiums and
currently works with more than 300 international
schools.
The
Asia Society's International Studies Schools Network
(ISSN), a US organization, says: 'Urban secondary
school students deserve an opportunity to be successful
within an increasingly global environment. By
introducing the study of world regions, languages,
and international affairs into the national high
school reform agenda, Asia Society aims to modernize
instruction and be a catalyst for “bringing
the world” into the classroom. ISSN's
aims are that a student should be intellectually
curious, have a desire for life-long learning,
think critically, and effectively organize his
or her own efforts to learn. A student should:
- Demonstrate a capacity
for mathematical analysis, scientific processing,
and logical reasoning;
- Hold themselves accountable
for moral reasoning and ethical decision-making;
- Transfer their learning
and problem-solving skills across domains and
articulate the interconnectedness of their learning;
- Understand and use
the arts as lenses through which to view society
and culture, as well as to express ideas and
emotions;
- Understand and engage
complex problems; collect, analyze and synthesize
information from a range of sources; tolerate
ambiguity and uncertainty; and produce potentially
viable solutions.
Primary funding for the
ISSN schools comes from local school districts
and federal and state education resources. In
addition, in 2003, Asia Society receives grants
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Other Information Sources
Expat
Education a useful feature from the Daily
Telegraph.
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