Moving to a new school, city and country often involves a bit of a leap of faith. It's a huge life decision – that for some also involves a partner and/or children – making it a multidimensional choice. Nonetheless, it's possible to minimize some of the anxiety and eliminate some of the "fingers crossed" feelings by methodically researching and then profiling the various schools, host cities, and countries you may be considering. Having all the information in front of you makes sense to help you compare the schools-cities-countries on your recruiting list. We consistently advocate for doing research!
I am reminded of a similar quest for research that I engineered in the 1990s when I worked as a college counselor. I created a handbook with a section listing categories under which students could input information for each college or university on their application list. In those early days, authors and publishers were just starting to provide the inside scoop to convey a sense of personality for individual schools, including information on their locations. When decision time arrived, our seniors compiled the essential criteria to allow them to choose the college or university that best met their needs.
International educators who choose to can go through the same basic process by creating profiles for potential schools, cities, and countries.
Which criteria might you add to your document? Below we offer a listing to get you started. We have listed them alphabetically because, depending on where you are in your international teaching journey, some criteria will be of more importance than others. Here is also a Google Document with the complete alphabetical listing of criteria as they appear in this post. Please feel free to create a copy and then edit the document, organizing the information to meet your needs.
Alternatively, this information could go into a copy of this spreadsheet we created, that will allow you to list and rank the pros and cons of schools, their cities, and countries. Thank you to Mark Forgeron for inputting the formulas that allow your rankings to be tallied for you!
An additional benefit of creating your profile listing of schools is this: once you gather all the information – from school websites, city, and country databases, your network of international educators, and other resources – you can see where you need more information. You can then develop questions to ask if you get interviews with the schools with gaps in their profile.
Another direction to take this profiling process is to score your current school and location to see how it compares to the top schools/cities/countries on your list. Seeing the comparison data may delay your move to a new school, as the “grass” is not always “greener” in international schooling. ;)
Let’s look at some criteria to help you profile schools. Some of these categories are covered in our Foundational Series of podcast episodes if you want to check those shows out. Several of the criteria below naturally group together (with some crossover). Look to international school communities on Reddit and Facebook (several listed in our Resource Library) to see what has already been shared about schools. Jump in and ask questions with members ready to connect through direct messages for more in-depth answers.
Note: You may want to go straight to the Google Doc, where you can expand or collapse each section or subsection by clicking the drop-down arrow to the left of the section title.
The School
Accreditation
Does a reputable accreditation organization accredit the school?
If they are going through the accreditation process, where do they stand?
Admissions
Is there an academic, language, and possibly behavior screening process for admittance?
Is there a requisite level of English proficiency for entrance into the Upper Primary, Middle, and High schools? Note: With more schools including students with a broader range of learning needs and levels of English proficiency in their admissions, it is essential to find out how well each division supports these students.
Age
How long ago was the school started?
How established are its program offerings?
Is it a start-up? A start-up has definite pros and cons to think about.
Children’s Needs
How will the school meet your children’s Physical-Intellectual- Emotional-Social (PIES) needs?
Do any of your children have any special needs? Also, think about your children and their intellectual needs if the case is that they are gifted or if you have older children who are very academically motivated, thus needing a solid college preparatory curriculum like the AP or IB. This also carries over to talents in the arts, athletics, etc. Note: You could adapt our profile spreadsheet to construct a section for each of your children with space for you to list what each school offers to support their individual profile(s).
Co-curricular Programming
You can approach this criterion from the perspective of which activities you can support, which ones you would like to learn how to support, and if you have children, which ones are desirable for their needs and interests.
What specific after-school, athletics, theater, music, academic clubs, etc., are offered?
Is there a co-curricular department with curriculum, resources, and leadership?
Is there an outdoor education/experiential learning program that includes travel and experiential learning opportunities? (e.g., Week Without Walls)
College and Career Counseling Support
What does the college and career program look like? Who provides it? Note: One of the international schools’ main goals is to help students gain admittance into a college or university. Whether you have high school-aged children of your own or not, it is a red flag if the school seems to lack a program that includes a clear calendar of college and career workshops and due dates for students starting as early as grade 9.
Community Cohesion
How connected are the student families to each other through school and community activities?
How strong is the Parent-Teacher Organization?
How integrated is the school within the culture of the host city?
How active are some of the teachers in the local community? In other words, does outside-of-school life for teachers reside mainly within the school bubble and the school neighborhood’s physical confines, or does it spread further into activities offered by the greater expatriate community, local citizens, and the government?
Curriculum
Which curriculum and, in some cases, curricula are followed (e.g., American, British, Canadian, etc.) – or curricula, if more than one – are taught at the school? Note: An “American school” can offer one or more divisions of the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme (i.e., PYP, MYP, DP) This especially applies to the number and nature of high school teacher preps.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ)
Where do the school and greater community stand within this belief structure?
What efforts are being made to hire and retain a diverse faculty and staff?
English Language Learning Support
How well does the school support multilingual students learning English?
Enrollment Numbers and Projected Growth
There can be a lot of competition among international schools within a city. Where does the school stand with its enrollment numbers? Are they growing, potentially with an enrollment waiting list, or are they losing students to other schools?
Is there expansion in the physical plant, as in expanding divisions, adding athletic and performance facilities, etc.? This can be positive that the school is growing, but it can be stressful if some of the campus is a construction zone. In some cases, schools will build a new campus — with an imminent move that brings positive and negative effects that are important to consider.
For-Profit or Not-for-Profit
Think about unpacking the “for-profit” criteria into descriptors such as a single local or overseas owner, corporate ownership – local or overseas, part of a consortium with a central management office, etc. What are the ramifications for the school, staff, and students if the school is for profit?
What are the ramifications for the school, staff, and students if the school is not for profit?
Governance and Oversight
Who oversees the management and long-term planning for the school? See previous entry “For Profit or Not for Profit.” If the school is not for profit, there is usually a school board that consists of community members, the head of the school, and sometimes teachers. Find out who is on the school board.
What is the selection process to be on the board?
What is the current “health” of the board, as in how functioning it is and – getting into the weeds – do the members receive training?
If the school is for profit, it can be the case that the owners fill the role of a school board. However, some for-profit schools can have more diversity in their membership. If the ownership is corporate, who manages the school, and how do they do so?
Job Description and Position Opportunities
Comfortable, too comfortable, or uncomfortable?
How is the fit with your skill set, strengths, and weaknesses?
Opportunities to expand the position?
Opportunities to create new programming?
Opportunities to move into leadership?
Job Responsibilities
What is the average class size in each division?
ES/MS - What teacher duties and preps are there?
HS - What teacher preps and multiple curriculum offerings exist (e.g., do some teachers teach AP and IB versions of courses)? See Job Satisfaction below for crossover criteria.
What other responsibilities would you have?
Job Satisfaction
(Positive Psychology - Use this link for a visual to rank the following criteria from Positive Psychology using the provided 1-10 scale. We also include some of our own criteria.)
Autonomy - How much agency over your duties does it look like you will have?
Cohesiveness of the School Divisions - How well-connected are the divisions, and what cross-division learning and community-building opportunities are offered? How important is a connected campus to you?
Colleagues - What is the general profile of staff? How diverse? How experienced? How credentialed? How many local and how many overseas hires? How is the climate between the two?
Learning Community - How dynamic is the feel of the learning community within your division? How strong is the ethos to learn and grow from each other? Do labor laws potentially limit some staff members’ buy-in and time commitment? Is there a case of “golden handcuffs” with some long-timers sticking around too long because the salary and benefits package is so good?
Professional Learning - How will your professional growth be supported? What do the PD stipends, calendar of PD events, and time allotted for independent and personalized professional learning look like?
Support - Who supports you in and out of the classroom? (i.e., teaching assistants, instructional coaches, engaged leadership team, counselor/wellness coach, etc.) What support systems exist for your instructional, human resources (HR), and other school-related needs?
Task Variety - How much variation might you have in the job? How important is this to you?
Working Conditions - How do you perceive the working conditions (e.g., orderliness, systems in place, commute time, staff morale, etc.) and the school’s ethos in terms of promoting creativity and collaboration?
Workload - Considering your well-being and life/work balance, how does it look?
Leadership Team
What do your research and international educator network tell you about the admin team’s strength — by division and school-wide?
Mission and Vision
How does the mission align with your values and instructional beliefs?
How well does the school “live” its mission?
What plans are in place for the school (e.g., expanding the physical plant, adopting new programs, etc.)?
If there are physical or programmatic growth plans, how much will they add to the typical staff member’s workload?
Nature of the Campus
Is it an urban, suburban, or remote location?
How big is the campus?
How “inviting” is the campus, as in does it have gardens, updated classrooms, buildings, space for students to gather, etc.?
Are the divisions all on one campus or separated?
What are the facilities like, like the quality of the athletic fields, performance halls, lunchrooms, etc.?
How modern and conducive is the facility for enhancing the experience for staff and students?
How resourced is the school regarding textbooks, software programs, special programs like STEM labs, etc.?
Niche
Some schools are known for a particular characteristic, such as being a green school, religion affiliated, a truly international school with embedded cross-cultural events, or a very American school with American sports, for example. It’s good to know this going into an interview!
Onboarding & Orientation
What does your research and international educator network tell you about the onboarding quality, from signing your contract to the orientation once you arrive in the country?
What is the structure for delivering both the onboarding and orientation?
Is there a teacher facilitator for each division?
Is a communication system in place, such as a Newbie WhatsApp group?
Is there a staff handbook or digital resource for school and community information?
Are classes offered for newbies to learn the basics of the local language?
Does the orientation continue past the start of the school year?
Organization Membership
Do the leading recruiting agencies like ISS and Search Associates post positions for the school?
Is the school a member of a regional organization like EARCOS or ECIS?
Parent Support
To what degree do parents support teachers?
Do some parents, possibly board members, try to influence some classroom experiences and the broader running of the school?
How firm are the boundaries set by the division principals and the head of school between parents and the teachers of their children?
Quality of Work Life
This category draws on many of the criteria listed in this document. Putting all the criteria together for each school and ranking which are most important can help you use data to paint the picture of your quality of life working at schools where you might relocate. Again, do your research, personalizing your search with criteria that are most important to you. Create a table where you can rank the most important criteria. The next step is to similarly “quantify” the quality of work life for each school you look at. Our spreadsheet can help you do this.
Recruiting System and Timeline
When does the school start recruiting?
How much do they interview through videoconferencing and in-person recruitment fairs?
Note that many upper-tier Asian international schools complete their recruiting by the start of January and that most schools start their process as early as September.
Reputation
What is “the word on the street” about the school?
Which “tier” do most people assign to the school? Review Dr. Heather Naro’s dissertation on factors affecting the quality of high schools in EARCOS to understand better how the informal tier system functions.
ISC can help you understand reputation and tiers, as can ISR (but remember to take ISR reviews with a grain of salt, as they are anonymous and can include teacher rants/venting that may apply only to a specific teacher’s experience at a school).
Salary/Benefits and Taxation
Work Visa Age Limitation
Contract Length
Co-curricular pay (i.e., coaching, clubs, etc.)
End-of-Service Payment
Flights
Healthcare Insurance Note that there can be healthcare insurance that doesn’t provide coverage outside the host nation or is through the national healthcare system and potential retirement funding with pros and cons regarding management fees.
Housing
Local Taxes/Temporary Tax Relief
Moving Expenses
Retirement Funding
School Shutdown and Staff Evacuation Procedures and Salary Status
Salary Scale Transparency
Tuition for Your Children
Work Visa Assistance and Costs. An important housing nuance is the proximity to the school for walking versus public transport or needing a vehicle.
Note: Salary, benefits, and personal finance are such big topics that we made a dedicated category of “Finances” on our website to help you take a deep dive into all things money-related. Consider going to the home page of our Educators Going Global information hub and selecting the “Finances” tab to pull up all our resources on this topic.
Staff Profile and Retention
How diverse is the staff in terms of country of origin, gender, ethnicity, age, life experiences, etc.?
What is the usual staff turnover each year?
What is the average tenure of faculty at the school?
Stage of The School’s “Life Cycle”
Note: This section is not about whether a school is a start-up or has a long history. The “life cycle” aspect of a school’s development involves it going through the normal developmental stages but with the possibility that, at any stage, the school could face some sort of internal or external crisis. A crisis or significant change could collapse trust and morale, leading to an exodus of stakeholders, including students/families, staff, leadership, and the governing body. The cycle comes into play when there is the possibility of rebirth, as in starting again, usually under new leadership and staff.
Where is the school in its life cycle (i.e., Is it renewing, moving into ongoing growth and expansion, fully developed with systems in place, or failing?)? Note: There are case studies of well-established schools resting on their laurels and failing to leverage their many resources and strengths. Some did a self-intervention to assess their needs, design new growth plans, and make changes to enter the rebirth and growth phase to improve how they operated and served their community. Others didn’t do so and continued to stagnate.
Student Body — Number and Profile
How many students are in each division? The International Schools Database can provide some of the answers to these questions.
How many are host country students compared to foreign students? Note: Regarding demographics, official numbers on school websites often list students by which national passport they hold. Host country nationals sometimes have a second passport from the US, Canada, or other nations. Thus, the reality is that the actual number of host country nationals can be higher depending on how schools use passport data.
What is (are) the language(s) spoken in the hallways? Note: While it can be interesting to hear many languages outside of the classrooms, if the language of instruction is not the language in the hallways, the door to inclusion and shared experience can close to some degree, along with other potential problems.
Are groups of students also studying after school and on weekends for their home country’s national exams?
Where are the students on the motivation continuum from “eager and curious to learn” to “not motivated,” – a possibility leading to rampant cheating?
How broad a spectrum of learning needs and English usage ability is there? Note: The trend for international schools to have more open admission policies to enroll students with particular needs is commendable. Yet, one must ensure the school is committed to this admissions policy and will put resources into training staff and hiring learning support. The teachers. Some schools struggling with enrollment accept students whom they cannot support.
Systems and Organization
We often speak on the podcast about systems and how well-organized a school is, from academics, including documented curriculum, to the business office, to governance, to HR, among several parts of the organization.
How organized is the school?
What systems are in place to help the school’s management be more efficient and productive?
A side note is to learn the degree of “initiative fatigue” – which can be found in young schools needing to build from the ground up, to schools in difficult locations that have high staff turnover, all the way to powerhouse schools with lots of go-getters who bring in all kinds of new ideas.
Trailing Spouse (Non-teaching)
If your non-teaching spouse does want to work, is there a position at the school?
Are there job opportunities outside of the school for your spouse?
How difficult is it for your partner to obtain a work visa?
Virtual School and Technology
How did the school handle online learning during the pandemic?
How well-supplied with technology are the teachers and students?
How does your technological experience connect with the hardware, apps, and online platforms the school offers -- from Learning Management Systems (LMS) to Apple versus Microsoft for hardware, to Google Apps for Education, etc.? If your experience is mainly with other technologies, are you up for learning new technology systems?
How well does the school support student digital citizenship and wellness?
What is the technology use policy related to personal device use inside and outside the classroom?
To what extent is it enforced?
What is the policy around the use of artificial intelligence?
Website and Social Media Presence
How does the school present itself?
How is the mission communicated — via multiple channels?
What might be “fluff”?
What is missing? Note: Smaller, less well-financed schools might need more funding to hire staff members to manage a school marketing program.
Wellness
Wellness is both a trend and a buzzword in international education. What program offerings are in place to support student wellness in each division?
What structures and systems are in place to support staff well-being?
Are there workshops and other parent education offerings to help parents with family wellness, including digital wellness?
Connecting to digital wellness, what is the policy on technology use in classrooms and during break times?
Digging deeper, whether there is a technology policy regarding personal technology use in place or not, how do students spend their recess and free time during the school day? You can see where we are going with this question.
The City
Caveat: We have no background in city planning, transportation, urban livability, etc. We are merely drawing on our experiences as international educators. Thus, the following limited list is offered to get you started. Do your research to find more categories to add to your list. Note: Some schools are not located in cities, which is a significant factor. Some schools may be situated in very remote locations — near a mining or oil-drilling operation. Would you be OK living on a compound – far away from urban life – teaching the children of the corporation’s employees and only socializing with other members of the school and corporate community?
Architecture, History, Public Spaces - Attractiveness
How beautiful — or possibly unappealing — is the city? It is a given that some cities have little charm with limited historical heritage. Some have shantytowns and limited infrastructure (see below for more information on infrastructure) — roads, sanitation, or other essential supports.
City Governance
How well does the municipal government support the welfare of the citizens and expatriates?
How efficient and effective are the governmental systems you might need to interact with?
Is corruption a barrier to receiving services?
Culture and Cultural Engagement Opportunities
How personally interesting is the city’s culture for you?
How accessible is it for foreigners?
If accessible, how rich are cultural experiences such as dining, festivals, theater, music, dance, etc.?
Getting into the weeds a bit, are there times, as in public festivals or national holidays, when intra-city movement and exiting the city are next to impossible?
Cost of Living
Use the Numbeo database to drill down on expenses for cities on your list. Do individual searches on desired items, whether food, personal care, medicines, etc., that you would want in your new location.
Food Availability, Quality, and Safety
What is the degree of quality and safety of the food produced in the country? The same goes for what is imported.
How easy/expensive is buying imported food if you choose to?
Are some foods (such as pork or alcohol) prohibited in the country?
Healthcare
What is the quality of medical and dental care?
How accessible is healthcare?
If your school only provides public health insurance, what are the wait times for procedures and quality of care compared to that offered in your home country?
Infrastructure
How functional are the infrastructure components, such as roads, water/sewage service, waste management, electricity, internet, etc.?
If the tap water is not potable, what is in place to purchase bottled water?
Is there a reliable recycling collection system?
How walkable is the city? Are there sidewalks? Are the sidewalks usually used for parking or by street vendors? Note: Some cities have uneven and broken sidewalks, a safety concern that one sometimes adapts to by walking on the edge of the street. Also, the roads in some locations could be in better condition, and driving may prove frustrating.
Language
It is a reality that the language of travel is English. The service workers and those involved in tourism often speak English almost no matter where you travel.
To what level is English spoken in restaurants, government services, tourism, etc.?
If the level is low, how difficult is it to learn the basics of the local language?
Pollution
What are the air, water, noise, etc., pollution levels?
Quality of City Life
This category draws on much of the criteria listed here. Putting all the criteria together for each city and ranking which are most important can paint a picture of your potential quality of life in cities where you might relocate. Again, do your own research, personalizing your data by choosing the most important criteria. Consider creating a table to rank or “score” the criteria for each host city you are investigating. Use Tales from a Small Planet for city reports.
Safety
What is the overall safety level for the city? Are there unsafe sections?
Is the criminal activity mainly related to petty theft, or is personal safety also a concern?
Regarding transportation, as mentioned previously, how safe are the roads for motorbike, automobile, and bus travel?
Transportation (Local)
Note: This is a huge topic involving finances, personal safety, and possibly health concerns when looking at traffic, air pollution, and propensity for accidents.
What is the transportation picture — starting with getting to and from school? Will you need your own vehicle?
Note that there is the possibility of unruly — to quite dangerous — driving behavior on the part of the local population — a common feature in many countries!
Note: Buying a used car or motorbike versus a new car can be “iffy” if there are maintenance issues. If possible, find one that comes with a warranty.
Transportation (In Country)
What are the public and private transportation options for traveling outside the city?
What is the level of highway and rail safety?
How affordable, convenient, and efficient are the various modes of transport?
How modern and efficient is the domestic section of the airport?
What is it like to travel from the city to neighboring locations during public holidays and festivals?
Transportation (Overseas) is listed in the Country category below.
Weather
How much will you need to adapt to the weather conditions? In other words, how different is the weather from your everyday experience?
Are there seasons with extreme weather (e.g., monsoons and flooding, very low or high temperatures, humidity, etc.)? Note: Some locations have long-term weather patterns that can be a psychological struggle for some. Long, overcast, and rainy winters can be brutal in parts of Europe, for example, if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This also applies to very northern locations with limited sunlight during the winter.
Considering the long term, is the weather becoming more severe due to climate change in some of your potential new cities?
The Country
Caveat: As with our offering of city-related criteria, we are not economists, political scientists, or experts in measuring how livable a country is. These suggestions are based on our personal experiences only.
Climate
How does the climate match up with your preferences? Note that some countries have international schools in different cities that experience vastly different seasons and weather. Vietnam is a prime example, with Hanoi offering four seasons, including a cool, damp winter, while Ho Chi Minh City is generally warm to hot with seasonal rain.
Economics and Governance
How stable is the country economically?
What are the GDP and prospects for economic growth?
What type of government is in place? How stable is it?
If instability and frequent changes are the norm, what have been the effects in the past and currently for the citizens and society in general?
Safety
We listed this criterion in the City section and here because some countries have safe and unsafe areas. Can you live in a reasonably safe city with other areas potentially being in war zones or unsafe to travel through?
How safe are expatriates from government detainments?
Is the justice system based on a legal system that gives expatriates a fair trial if one is arrested?
Travel - Within Country
With your interests and travel experiences, how interesting is the country?
How diverse are the geography, the regional cultures, etc.?
In terms of transportation, how easy is it to move about the country?
Getting into the weeds a bit, are there times, as during public festivals or other events, when traveling within the country is next to impossible? We bring up this point because some of your school holidays will align with public holidays. If travel within or trying to get out of the country is unmanageable due to overcrowding of transport routes and destinations, this could mean fewer travel opportunities.
Transportation (Overseas)
How modern and efficient is the international section of the airport?
Is there a variety of affordable international carriers?
Does the country’s location make connecting to international flight hubs easy or difficult?
How long, including layovers, is the flight from a given country to your home of record? (We have lived in locations where it took us over 30 hours to get home).
Your Values
How do your values jibe with the governing and socio-economic systems in place?
How will you handle a high level of corruption if it is a normal part of living in this country? (In some places, it is common to bribe police or other locals regularly).
