Educational Systems of Other Nations
What kinds of schools are available?
Variety is one of the basic characteristics of independent schools abroad. Countless variables exist from country to country and from school to school. Nevertheless, to aid in gaining an overall perspective, most schools may be classified in one of three general groups.
The first group consists of privately operated American-sponsored schools, often referred to as "community schools." They have been founded by members of English-speaking business and diplomatic communities abroad in response to the need for an English-language school program for their children. Many such schools are missionary founded and sponsored; some are sponsored by corporations; others are operated by individuals of diverse backgrounds.
The American community school constitutes the nearest overseas parallel to a typical school in the United States. The curricula, teaching methods and materials are American, as are a substantial percentage of faculty members and students. The basic objective of the academic program is to facilitate transfer back to schools in the US and to provide preparation for the US College Boards. Most of these schools offer courses in the language and culture of the host country and encourage enrollment from a variety of nationalities.
The second group of schools, variously referred to as binational, multinational or international, includes many American schools. They offer curricula adapted from more than one country’s system of education and often enroll highly cosmopolitan students. Frequently, instruction is in more than one language. Some schools offer a program leading to the International Baccalaureate, the first international university entrance examination.
Most of these schools, however, provide different national sections or divisions (for example, English speaking, French speaking, German speaking) that fulfill curriculum and college preparation requirements of specific countries. Private schools in Switzerland probably best exemplify this kind of school, although schools of a multinational nature are located in many other parts of the world. American- and foreign-sponsored international schools may include as many as 20 to 30 nationalities among their students and often have at least half a dozen countries represented on the faculty.
The third category of schools are those native to the host country. Here is the greatest opportunity to enter thoroughly into another culture. There are, of course, many inherent obstacles to enrolling in an entirely native program, but the potential rewards are great. Schools Abroad contains a number of these schools throughout the world that indicate a willingness to accept American students.
While a comprehensive comparison of differing national systems is beyond the scope of Schools Abroad, we provide the following capsules of the educational systems of a few key countries represented in this volume.
Familiarization with the British system of education should help in understanding the concept of education elsewhere in Europe. The British influence, especially on the secondary level, is evident in many other parts of the world.
UK | Canada | France | Germany | Switzerland