Sterling relocation services have released a white paper that explores some of the challenges that expatriates face when attempting to secure suitable schooling for their children.
The report, which is entitled Educating Expat Children: Negotiating Market Trends and Challenges, explores the global market for expatriate schooling and reveals that although the availability of schools has developed rapidly over the past few years, the quality of the establishments on offer does still vary enormously.
The report also reveals that companies are increasingly cutting back on the support that they offer their relocating employees and that in many organizations employees are now being given general advice on selecting schools overseas for their children, as opposed to being fully supported in the school selection process, as they were in the past.
Sarah Cummings, Sterling’s head of education, warns that the absence of a full needs analysis with the family could make or break an expatriate assignment: “For parents, the success of an assignment – or even whether they accept it at all – can hinge on whether their child’s education will suffer,” she said.
According to Sterling’s report, there is an increasing availability of expatriate schools throughout the world; this makes it easier for relocating parents to find suitable institutions at which their children can gain an internationally recognized qualification. In particular, two areas of the world have seen significant investment in their international educational offerings: The Middle East and Africa. In both of these areas of the world a large number of international schools have opened in the past couple of years and, providing expatriates choose carefully, they can find a high standard of schooling for their children in these locations.
In their white paper, Sterling offer 6 tips for finding a suitable international school for expatriate children and suggest that parents who are concerned about finding a suitable establishment for their children use a qualified education consultant who can assist them to understand their child’s needs and find a suitable educational establishment.
For the full white paper, Educating Expat Children: Negotiating Market Trends and Challenges, see the Sterling Relocation Website.
Read the full article: http://www.sterlingrelocation.com/movinghome/additional_services/school_search.html
