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International schools are a growing class of educational institution. It has been suggested that few schools of this type have a marketing plan whilst research into development planning showed that few had a long‐range plan. This paper aims to investigate these issues.

This paper deals with a survey of 32 international schools in 22 different countries. The public relations practitioner in each was questioned as to the nature of the marketing planning process.

Half of the schools had a marketing plan. Few had a one‐year one, and few had a cyclical one with stages. Several had dispensed with such a plan. The major aim of marketing planning was to attract more students. There was little evidence of it being a strategic process. Few schools involved the whole school body.

This involved a small‐scale survey of international schools at a time when student numbers were high. This survey failed to take into account the growth of this type of school in mainland China.

It is suggested that perhaps some international schools might focus more on non‐rational planning and scenario‐building techniques. Making more contact with the local community might also be beneficial as a strategic marketing aim.

This paper furthers the understanding of the nature and organizational culture of international schools. It builds upon earlier research into development planning in this type of school.

This chapter is an overview of the status of international education with regard to services for special needs students and more specifically learning disabled students in international schools. While some 1,000+schools describe themselves as international, being international does not necessarily describe the services provided to students and families, the philosophical stance of the school or school board, nor does it describe the intent of being international for teachers and students alike. International schools have a very mixed history of serving special education students. This chapter provides a review of the situation for learning disabled and special needs students in international schools, examines the current status of services and provides examples of sponsored projects, professional development programs and international schools created to embrace special needs students.

With the rapid development of the Chinese economy and society, the number of international schools in China has increased sharply. As a core part of school quality, the curriculum development in international schools is facing a series of challenges due to the changing requirements from both the government and the market. In order to better understand the current practices of curriculum development in these international schools in China, this study adopts Tyler’s and Gu’s curriculum theories to design a questionnaire to collect data from 104 international schools national-wide. In addition, a semi-structured interview for teachers and principals was also conducted in nine international schools in five different cities in China.

The findings show that most international schools aim at cultivating “global citizens” or “leaders and elites.” In China, most schools attach importance to foreign language teaching, and most courses are offered in English. Group work, inquiry and discussion, and project-based learning are frequently adopted in international schools. The findings also show there is a strong integration of “Chinese culture” and “global vision,” and schools generally try to balance the two aspects. Some schools rely heavily on foreign curriculum resources, and are in urgent need of capacity building in term of curriculum development based on Chinese policy, market demands and their school realities. Compared with developed countries, international schools in China endorse the new mission, mixing the requirements of modernization and globalization at the same time. Therefore, how to reconstruct a Chinese neo-modern curriculum system is the fundamental challenge for all international schools in China.

This paper reports a qualitative research study of comparative analysis of global citizenship education (GCE) in two primary schools, one international school in Singapore (Stamford International) and an independent school in Australia (Coastal College). The research focussed on how these two schools implemented GCE through the adoption of international education models, utilising the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) or the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB), creating hybrid curricula. Central to this research is the examination of educational practices, which address global citizenship education in each of the two schools.

Qualitative data from interview transcripts, document analysis, website analysis as well as field notes were analysed both inductively and deductively, teasing out the key themes from interviews, various documents such as policy papers, curriculum materials, syllabuses, the websites and other forms of documents that shed more light on the issues presented. The analysis of each case study began with a brief overview of the global citizenship education policies in the two schools and of their international curricula models, followed by a separate interpretation and juxtaposition of interview data (Phillips and Schweisfurth, 2014).

The key focus is examining the interplay between the global and national, which both schools have acknowledged in their design of the curricula. It is integral to note that globalization differs within different communities around the world with a unique and multifaceted interplay of global and national factors termed as a “global-local nexus”. A key overarching finding relates to the tensions between educational domains and neo-liberal market rationales, which had affected the schools' decisions in curricula and GCE enactment within both schools. Despite their commitment to GCE ideals, schools were mindful about being distinctive and remaining competitive within their educational markets.

In the study, the ideas of hybridity and “mixture and fusion” of curricula elements to generate new practices in local contexts against global influences have been explored. These ideas form the key features of the curriculum design in both schools and of the contexts in which the schools were situated. Even though the selected case study schools were international and independent and were not expected to fully adhere to government guidelines from their respective country’s policies, they were staged against these policies, which in turn influenced the curriculum initiatives and pedagogical approaches of these schools. Thus studying the landscape in which these two schools are situated provided a better understanding of the various influences – geo-political, formal policy, school-specific factors – which contributed to the knowledge base of global citizenship education studies for multi-ethnic nations such as Singapore and Australia.

As more national school systems embrace diversity, an international education approach has been adopted. This study affirms the idea proposed by Hayden, Thompson and Bunnell (2016), that the use of “international” is less relevant in categorising schools that seek to embrace GCE. It is more appropriate to use “cosmopolitan,” as proposed by Rizvi (2008), where the focus is more broadly on acquiring knowledge about cultural trajectories and social identities and reinforcing the idea of global connectivity as is evident in both case study schools. The focus is on understanding and acting on local issues within the “broader context of the global shifts that are reshaping the very nature of localities” (Rizvi, 2008, p. 21). One of the key things to note is that the global and international approaches are seldom enacted in their pure form. Schools that have adopted international education are usually unique and heterogeneous in nature, and what they have done is very much dependent on their histories, their geographical locations and the economic and political statuses. This is evident in both case study schools.

This study has added to the existing literature by providing a rich comparative investigation of global citizenship education in two countries, Australia and Singapore. The research provided the opportunity to study different models of internationally minded schools, with similar GCE ambitions. As the study explored two types of schools in two different countries, there is no claim of generalisability of findings to all the schools in these two countries. However, educators and researchers who are interested in this field could reflect on the themes that have emerged from this study and make an informed decision on the possible transferability to their own contexts.

Besides its contribution to existing literature, the study has also shown that for effective integration of GCE in schools, either in a national or international education system, it is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the GCE principles. The results drawn from the study indicate that the ambiguity of the concept of GCE can result in different interpretations by school leaders, teachers and students, thus affecting its enactment in schools. In order to better understand and apply GCE, an effective conceptual model would provide a critical understanding of the multi-faceted nature of global citizenship education. A critical GCE requires schools to reflect on the entire curriculum, ensuring a seamless integration of GCE into curricula and practices.

Evidence from the UK shows that public relations (PR) in schools initially met with resistance but has since entered a second phase, that of “post marketisation”. But, it is still believed that unqualified and untrained administrators practise it in schools. Little formal research has been undertaken into this, especially among the growing body of schools called “international schools”. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

Research was undergone among the training background and needs of the PR practitioner (PRP) in 34 international schools in 22 countries worldwide.

Each school had a designated PRP who is largely untrained and unqualified. A range of induction and ongoing training needs were identified which do not presently seem to being met.

This paper deals specifically with the diverse body of “international schools”. The findings cannot automatically be applied to other types of institution.

It is suggested that these training needs have to be met largely from within the school itself. Deming's four total quality management principles of “profound knowledge” are used to conceptualize what these needs might be.

This paper resurrects the issues and problems facing the practical implementation of PR in some schools. It raises the issue that international school managers ought to give more regard to both the induction and ongoing training needs of the PRP within their own institution, making it more of a “learning organization”. It also offers a pragmatic training role for the fledgling body called the “Alliance for International Education”.

The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relationship between the factors of cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders.

This correlational research study examined 193 international school leaders, who participated in a survey that included the Cultural Intelligence Scale and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X. A standard multiple regression analysis was used to determine if the factors of cultural intelligence predict transformational leadership. The individual contribution of each factor to the model was examined.

The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders. Leaders who have a higher level of cultural intelligence exhibit a higher level of transformational leadership style, which suggests that individuals with high-cultural intelligence are able to lead and to manage more effectively in multicultural environments. Behavioral cultural intelligence and cognitive cultural intelligence were found to be the best predictors of transformational leadership.

The results provide insight into the selection, training, and professional development of international school leaders. Practical implications are provided for integrating cultural intelligence into higher education curriculum.

This paper makes a unique contribution to the nomological network of cultural intelligence by identifying which factors of cultural intelligence best predict transformational leadership in international school leaders, a population to which this model had not been previously applied.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection between professional development and professional capital within international schools in Asia.

This study was an exploratory multisite case study. Teachers and leaders in six high performing international schools in Asia were surveyed to measure their professional capital. Three leaders with the highest professional capital from different schools were interviewed to better understand how professional development fosters professional capital of their teachers.

International school leaders tended to have high professional capital while teachers reported having less professional capital. Leaders fostered professional capital of their teachers through professional development by supporting the intellectual passions of individuals, fostering collaborative learning within and across international schools and creating a culture of safety and vulnerability for teachers to try new things.

This study showed that a short version of the professional capital survey tested well in this context with items just focused on professional development. However, more work needs to be done to make the individual constructs more robust as it pertains to professional development. This research also highlighted the need to look at how international school teachers foster their own professional capital through professional development.

This is the first study that focused on the intersection of professional capital and professional development. Additionally, this article serves as one of the few studies of professional capital in international schools.

A narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the complexities of learning English and Korean as subject matter in cross-cultural contexts in contributing to teacher identity, with possible tensions of identity teachers experience as ethnic Koreans teaching at an international school in Korea that promotes non-Korean, international education in English as a “language of inclusion” and instruction. With expansions of international schools in South Korea, also growing are numbers of Korean teachers teaching at such schools as returnees, individuals with cross-cultural experience. Stories of one Korean language and literature teacher with international schooling experience were examined.

While identifying the practical benefits of acquiring English, she expresses her concern for the presumed loss of Korean as a product of the prioritized use of English on campus. Equally recognized are the diverse opportunities not commonly available at Korean public schools that the participant upholds from her own experience. She acknowledged that her opportunities for the development of English language skills to a high level of proficiency through international education is not commonly accessible to all students in the Korean public school system. She also considered possible impacts associated with prioritizing the use of English over Korean in her international education experience, including their influence on: her sense of identity as a teacher and as Korean; her cultural knowledge as Korean; and her teacher knowledge as she supports her students' learning of English as subject matter in ways that might, in turn, also impact their sense of identity as Korean.