Nick Scott asked: London teacher, Hannah Brunton recently packed her bags and joined 60,000 other British teachers and Headteachers in the process. Having spent three years at Barrow Hill Junior School in Westminster, Hannah moved to Beijing to start teaching at the Harrow Primary School.
It’s a move that was surprisingly easy for her. “I first became interested in teaching in an international school last November,” Hannah explains. “I was looking to use my skills as a teacher to open up opportunities for experiencing a different culture and felt I was ready for a new challenge. Additionally, having lived and worked in central London since graduating, I found my bank balance to be no healthier than when I was a student and teaching jobs overseas can offer the chance of saving money while offering a better quality of life.”
This figure of 60,000 British teachers and Headteachers already working overseas is expected to increase significantly as the number of international schools continues to grow at a rapid pace. It’s a market much bigger than most people, even those within the education sector, realise. At present there are 5,374 international schools throughout the world using English as the language for learning. They offer a variety of curricula including British, American and international (including the IGCSE, the International Baccalaureate, and the International Primary Curriculum). Most are independent, highly respected, well-equipped and skilfully managed. These schools not only attract English-speaking children from expatriate families but also children from the local population; typically the wealthiest of the local families who recognize that an international, English-speaking education opens a lot of career doors for their children. “In fact, international schools are now catering for the richest 5% of the non-English-speaking world,” says Nicholas Brummit, Managing Director of ISC Research which maps the world’s international schools and analyses developments in the international schools market.
It’s a market that is changing significantly as ISC Research figures attest. In the year 2000 there were 2,584 international schools. That number has doubled in just nine years and looks set to increase to 8,000 by 2015. That means a lot of jobs for skilled, English-speaking teachers and Headteachers and the reason why they’re looking, says Andrew Wigford of Teachers International Consultancy, isn’t just about salary. “In research that we carried out two years ago, the number one reason for teaching overseas was the adventure and the opportunity to travel. In retrospect,” he continues, “teachers and Headteachers who’d been working abroad for more than two years were able to say that the experience had been very good for their career with 89% saying that it had improved their skills and job opportunities. More than that, every single one of the respondents said that the experience of working in an international school had enriched them as a person and 66% had learned a new language along the way.”
Another teacher who said goodbye to Britain recently was Scottish teacher, Anna Coquelin. Anna, who taught French and Spanish at Craigroyston school in Edinburgh has joined the staff at the British School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In addition to more sunshine, the teaching opportunities where Anna has headed are far greater than in Scotland. The British School in Riyadh is just one of over 130 English-medium international schools in Saudi Arabia, more than 40 of which are in Riyadh alone. And there’s no slowing down in sight. Governments, not just in the Middle East but in many developing countries like Korea, are actively encouraging international schools to open as they increasingly recognize their importance.
So what of the international teaching opportunities for teachers like Hannah and Anna? “There are going to be more and more of them,” say the experts.
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