4 Key Trends to Watch in International Private Schools

International private schools have significantly grown over the past few years as they attract an increasingly diverse collection of students and families in regions around the world.

The needs of those schools — which enroll an estimated 7 million students globally — are evolving, as the regulatory environments and educational interests of students change.

ISC Research, which collects data on international schools, recently published its Global Market Overview 2024 report, which breaks down changes in how international private schools are using artificial intelligence and different forms of curriculum, as well as trends among its teacher workforce across schools.

Officials at ISC Research spoke with EdWeek Market Brief about four shifts they see playing out in international private schools, some of which, the organization has written about in recent reports about the sector.

The organization defines an international private school as one that delivers a curriculum in English in a country where English is not an official language — or where content other than the national curriculum is taught in a country where English is an official language.

1. Schools Are Broadening Curriculum Choices

As of today, ISC says there are 14,457 K-12 international schools worldwide, consisting of 7 million students.

Asia currently leads in the market with 57 percent of the world’s international schools, serving 4.7 million students.

The top five countries with the most international schools are China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Brazil, in that order.

Seventy-eight percent of international schools offer more than one kind of curriculum. One reason is that in countries like India, China, Japan, and South Korea, there’s been a rise of interest among students in attending local universities, rather than the longstanding ambition of attending college abroad. The broadening of postsecondary interests has created a need for a wider variety of academic preparation.

Schools are also increasingly blending curricula from global and national sources, in order to cater to diverse student populations and to satisfy parents’ demands for children to “achieve qualifications that are recognized both locally and internationally,” according to the report.

International schools need to have a lot of academic resources on hand “to be able to deliver options like that,” said Sami Yosef, head of global research at ISC.

Some of these changes in demand for curriculum are a result of an evolving regulatory environment. For example, international school students in Egypt are required to take classes in the Arabic language, social studies, and religious studies.

This reflects the growing influence of nationalist policies on international schools’ curriculum in some countries, Yosef said.

In addition, an increasing number of governments are making it mandatory for academic subjects to be taught in the local language, he said. Companies looking to work in international schools will have to provide content applicable to the region’s language, culture, and religion.

2. Interest in AI to Support Instruction is Growing, But Many Schools Are Cautious

While some international schools are moving aggressively to adopt artificial intelligence, others are moving cautiously.

International schools are broadly using AI to enhance teaching strategies and to automate routine administrative tasks, like grading and managing student records, according to ISC, which released two reports on the influence of the emerging technology in the sector.

But as in U.S. public schools, there is a strong need for professional development, as schools are “increasingly focusing on upskilling their existing staff rather than hiring new AI specialists, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and adaptation,” according to ISC.

There is opportunity here for service providers to assist in professional development programs that train educators on things like data privacy, the ethical use of AI, and the pedagogical implications of AI integration, Yosef said.

“What I’ve found is more British schools are the ones that are more hesitant with it,” Yosef said. “Whereas American schools seem to be a lot more open to the idea of trying different strategies and ways that they can bring AI into the classroom, or even administratively.”

The global need for continuous teacher training and literacy in AI is strong, agreed Philippa Wraithmell, CEO of EdRuption, an educational consultancy based in Dubai.

“Integration of AI is in large part enabled by the professional development required to ensure that it is being used effectively and ethically,” Wraithmell wrote in one of two AI reports she recently published in collaboration with ISC.

Other demands from international schools she identifies include help crafting strategies for catering to individual student’s needs and driving outcomes, current ethical and privacy considerations that education leaders are thinking about globally, and what the future landscape might look like for AI.

In her interviews with schools, Wraithmell also found that most schools do not have a sufficient digital strategy for how they plan to make effective use of AI.

“One of the biggest things that people can leverage right now is helping support schools to build those processes and those workflows in an educational setting,” said Wraithmell in an interview.

3. There’s a Demand for Better PD to Support Teachers

ISC survey data from earlier this year took an in-depth look at why teachers stay in their jobs in international private schools, or choose to leave, and examined their career goals and their level of satisfaction on the job.

Their research found that having access to strong professional development ranks high among teachers’ priorities for staying in a job.

But when it comes to looking for a new job, professional development isn’t even in the top five reasons for joining a school — rather, the focus is on pay and benefits.

“A significant proportion of teachers are based in Asia, where the majority of international schools are located,” the report said. Many educators in the region are attracted to schools by “lucrative salary and benefits packages, although many teachers are beginning to explore opportunities in other regions, often due to family commitments or in search of a better work-life balance.”

There’s a high volume of applicants for teaching positions across the board, Yosef said, but the overall quality of candidates is taking a dip.

Other trends the ISC has noted on teacher movement include a high turnover rate in the sector and a need for schools to “adopt a holistic approach to teacher engagement” to nurture professional career goals and support educators’ personal well-being.

4. Interest in Social-Emotional Learning Is Surging

International schools are also placing an emerging emphasis on social-emotional learning and support for student mental well-being, concepts that have become staples of the learning environments in many U.S. public schools, Yosef said.

“There is a drive by schools around student well-being, so that’s an area where suppliers can help,” he said. “It’s a big focus for schools at the moment, and they’re looking to increase their resources to support students with those needs.”

One challenge is that there’s still a stigma around SEL and mental health supports in countries within Asia, Africa, as well as those that border the Persian Gulf, he said.

While those negative connotations are slightly subsiding, especially as affluent and middle-class families in those countries are growing more open to it, there has historically been a lot of resistance to things like accepting mental health diagnoses for their children, or even having access to proper psychological evaluations, Yosef said.

“This is an area that is in need of further support and resources for schools around the world,” he said. “So there’s definitely an opportunity for suppliers who may be interested in helping these schools.”