The Puzzle: Blog

In recent years, more and more US independent schools have added a phrase pertaining to global citizenship to their mission statements. And why not? US boarding schools have been welcoming international students since the 1970s. In fact, every bed in our boarding schools could be filled with non-American students who aspire to attend American universities. Parents who send their children to our independent day schools, which are largely located in cosmopolitan areas in the US, are often business people who are engaged with clients around the world. They expect that their children will be prepared to compete in an increasingly diverse and global marketplace. It’s an important question: Can any school afford not to be international/global in its focus nowadays?

We need to be preparing our students to compete in the global marketplace. I have worked in international schools such as the American College of Sofia, where students repeated grade eight in order to master English, studied 12 subjects, emerged trilingual, then won scholarships to some of the best universities in the US and Europe. These are the global citizens our American students will be competing with in the global marketplace.

A hard question and a suggestion

What about the teachers and administrators who are supposed to be preparing our students to be global citizens? How many of them can claim that they understand what is required to achieve this mission, or that they are themselves true global citizens? After all, the leaders of our institutions should themselves be true to the missions of their schools.

A suggestion: take a look at the administrators and teachers who are currently working in international schools around the world.   In 2000, there were about as many English-medium international schools outside the US as there were independent schools in the US. Since that time, the number of international schools has more than tripled, with some 7,000+ serving hundreds of thousands of students around the world. Any major city in any country hosts at least several international schools.

Many of the thousands of teachers and administrators who staff these schools are Americans. They have taken on the challenge of adapting to another culture and learning another language. They have lived through coups d’état, political turmoil, water shortages, earthquakes, and economic downturns, but they have adapted and endured. They are risk-takers, the kind of teachers and mentors we want for our children.

But, you ask, how do we interview these candidates? Answer: Skype. Put technology to work! How would they get to our school? Airplane. These international folks are very comfortable flying across oceans and multiple time zones. One caveat: international staff tend to make decisions for the following year several months earlier than their domestic counterparts in independent schools.

Another suggestion

You might want to look at working in an international school yourself. I promise you that it will be a life-changing experience. Imagine walking into a classroom in which there are more than a dozen native languages and worldviews. Talk about lifelong learning! This is an invaluable experience for your family–far more stimulating than two weeks on a Greek isle or a few days spent wandering the UK.

Although the number of international schools around the world is quite large, there is a shared sense of community among its members. Witness the greetings shared by Heads of international schools during their annual roll call at the start of the school year: “All good wishes from the International School Moshi on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. There is a very positive feel on both campuses as we begin the 2015/16 school year!” / “Sain bainuu from the International School of Ulaanbaatar…where the Mongolians claim the sky to be an even deeper and more luminous blue that those above … Uzbekistan!” And almost all school Heads report growth in student numbers and new construction projects underway. International schools are truly thriving.

We can help

Whether you are interested in finding candidates currently working in international schools or are an American educator looking to work abroad, CS&A can help. Ours is the only Head of School, administrator, and teacher placement firm that is firmly established in both markets.

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