Europeans in International Schools

Steve Bryant, BSc, PGCE, DipTheol, and his wife, Gill, live in southwestern England. Steve and Gill are the MK consultants for WEC International. After teaching in the United Kingdom, Steve worked at Bourofaye Christian School in Senegal before returning to the United Kingdom in 2001 for their sons to enter university.

Author’s note: This article summarizes a presentation given at the InterMission MK Education Consultation (IMKEC) in 2007. That presentation was developed because of discussions at IMKEC 2006. The IMKEC 2007 presentation was also based on discussions at Eurotck (European MK workers) in March 2007 and at the first meeting of EIMESC (European Inter-Mission Education Standing Council). I was acting as a spokesman for both Eurotck and EIMESC at those meetings. The recommendations of the Eurotck working group and of EIMESC are on the EIMESC page of the Eurotck website at www.eurotck.net under EIMESC. The Eurotck working group recommendations are also printed on page 6 in this article.

At IMKEC 2007, the following six topics were presented for the consideration of international schools:

1. Graduation standards if following a U.S.- style curriculum. In European countries, and in some Commonwealth countries, AP and SAT subject tests (formerly SAT II) are required for university entrance. The requirement is usually five APs for continental Europe and five AP and/or SAT subject tests for the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2. Language learning. Schools need to plan for time in the normal schedule for students to study their mother tongue.
3. The school culture. Our schools can become more international in their culture and can identify more closely with European students and others. The discussion focused on pre-field training and on getting input from non-Anglophones.
4. The organisation of the school and its timetable. Schools must be aware of key differences affecting European students and other students and must be willing to make adjustments help prepare students for academic reentry.
5. Resources and costs. Costs in some MK schools are prohibitively high, so the idea of scaled fees or scholarships to assist those on low incomes was raised.
6. The role of accrediting bodies. One of the requirements for accreditation should be a working internationalisation policy in the school.

Guiding Principles

These issues were reaffirmed during the working group discussions at Eurotck. The working group also recognized that sending agencies and families must play their part and must not expect the schools to deliver everything.

The parents are the main teachers and guardians of the passport culture (or cultures), and they are mainly looking for support and understanding from the school.

The agencies should prepare their teachers and other MK workers to go to international schools. The agencies need to provide their people with all the relevant information about mother tongue courses. They also need to clearly explain academic reentry requirements to their families; there are still too many workers returning to the passport country because of a perceived mismatch between university entrance requirements and what MK schools can offer. The information that AP and SAT subject tests can give students university entrance should be widely broadcast.

One other simple recommendation that came from Eurotck was that schools have their websites evaluated by people of various nationalities to avoid an appearance of ethnocentricity.

EIMESC restated these goals. The council has been established to work in an ongoing way with agencies, families, schools, and organisations such as ACSI to see these ideals realised. The main addition from EIMESC was that of the need for all MK schools to have an ESL programme. This is something that most MK schools have in place, but a range of resources to help schools in this task was outlined. These resources are listed on the EIMESC page of the Eurotck website and also in an article by Carola Keil, a member of EIMESC. Carola’s article is on the need for both ESL and mother-tongue instruction for TCKs. Flossie Epley and Gill Bryant also made presentations to IMKEC 2007, and they have also written articles on ESL. Flossie’s article is on responding to the needs of multilingual students, and Gill’s is on ESL teaching. Carola’s and Flossie’s articles are in 1Q 2008 World Report.

In recognition of the fact that many requirements, such as those of mother tongue and ESL, are shared by other sending countries, EIMESC will be working with agencies and representative groups around the world. The council’s work will involve liaison with groups in Korea and other Asian sending countries, in Latin America, in sub-Saharan Africa, and in various Commonwealth nations.

After Eurotck and EIMESC had finished their presentations at IMKEC 2007, participants reached broad agreement on two main points:

First, pre-field orientations (PFOs) for all our MK school staff are essential. PFOs should have input from non-Anglophones from Scandinavia or continental Europe, from Asia (perhaps Korea or China), and from Latin America. The ideal would be to have at least two of these speakers on any given PFO course, and the speakers should be crossculturally experienced. For this plan to be practical, it would be easiest if the contributors were working at one of the sending offices in the country where the PFO is organised. If no “live” presenter is available, EIMESC is offering to make a DVD for use on PFO courses. This DVD would be a reserve measure, though, since a presenter who can answer questions and discuss issues with PFO delegates at the seminar is a far better option.

Second, costs in some MK schools are prohibitively high. While encouraging schools to look at creative ways to make their education affordable to low-income families, the participants also stressed that agencies have their part to play in terms of funds, advice on appropriate placement of personnel, and other measures.

Funding for scholarships of some type could involve hard decisions about whether acquiring more equipment or helping students from low-income families should have priority. High spending on resources does not necessarily equal a good education; there are times when schools can achieve results that are just as good with lower costs. I also believe that if our supporters know that MK schools have scholarship funds to help low-income families, then we will attract a different type of funding. Giving to the poor in this way is seen by many believers as a responsibility laid down in the Bible: “From the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48, NIV).

Internationalisation

We discussed the idea of requiring a working internationalisation policy for accreditation, but it was clear that more work needs to be done in order to properly define what internationalisation is in our MK schools. I identified various models of internationalisation in my IMKEC 2006 presentation. They are summarized here:

1. Overseas foreign schools. These schools are usually American, British, or French.
2. Schools that have one basic national foundation model yet are sensitive to other nationalities. These schools make modifications to help meet the needs of students of other nationalities.
3. Fully international schools that have an international curriculum. The curriculum is usually modelled on the Cambridge International Exams or the International Baccalaureate. Teaching may be in more than one language.
4. Schools with different nationality branches. Current examples are English and Korean language and English and German.
5. Smaller school co-op systems. Students follow their own passport country curriculum under supervision, sometimes with teachers. Although this system is usually used in smaller and less formally structured schools, there is no reason why it couldn’t work in larger schools as well.

PFOs should have input from non-Anglophones from Scandinavia or continental Europe, from Asia (perhaps Korea or China), and from Latin America.

There are MK schools that fit all these categories, but the majority follow either the first or second model. Schools need to work out an internationalisation policy that fits the current and expected student body, but they also need to take note of the broader population of MKs in their area, some of whom may not be involved in the singlesystem school because the school is—or they feel that it is—too foreign in curriculum and/ or culture to be relevant to their needs.

Most MK schools are internationalising, and they will continue to do so, by moving more towards the second model rather than by totally redesigning to adopt the third model. From a European perspective—and we know that many non-Anglophone and Commonwealth countries share this view—we applaud any efforts to move away from the totally single-system, “overseas foreign” MK schools. These efforts will normally include making whatever modifications are necessary—along the lines of the IMKEC and Eurotck recommendations—for the many nationalities of students represented in the school.

Recommendations

• Parents need to ensure that their children have the necessary mother tongue skills; this may well mean teaching them to read and write at home if no school option is available. Parents may need to buy into a suitable course to develop academic language skills. (Most European countries have such courses.) Mission agencies need to provide the correct advice and resources for this to happen.
• MK schools need to include mother tongue study in the school and homework schedule, and they should look to recruit European teachers to do this job. If no teachers are available, then time should be allocated for students to study in the mother tongue using a correspondence course.
• Parents need to be the main source of the passport culture, and they should actively maintain that culture in the home.
• Schools can help with simple measures such as developing more international websites (regularly monitored by non-Americans), knowing key dates for their students’ passport countries, and practicing sensitivity towards European family needs.
• European children need more work—investigative, book project, and classroom—that incorporates diverse learning styles. Schools should encourage teachers to break from the very didactic model many of them work to.
• All MK teachers need PFO training. PFOs held in the United States should have some non-Anglophone presenters from Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
• Many MK schools are too expensive. Simple economies can be adopted to reduce fees. Scholarships and sliding scales of fees based on the ability to pay should be considered.
• European children need five AP and/or SAT subject tests to enter university. MK schools need to look at how these can be offered.

A standing council will be formed to represent Europeans to ACSI and MK schools. This council will be as representative as possible of different agencies and countries. We will look to work with newer sending countries in Asia and Latin America who share many of our interests.

Europeans in International Schools  Q2 2008