Teaching overseas can benefit your children

Moving abroad is a big family decision, but it can give your child opportunities that they can't get at home

Teacher David Atkinson with his family

A growing number of teachers with families are moving overseas with school-age children because of the quality education and lifestyle opportunities this offers.

International schools generally offer a very high standard of education with excellent resources, engaging approaches to teaching and learning, small class sizes, good classroom behaviour and a diverse mix of students and teachers from many different countries. This creates an environment that most children thrive and blossom within. International schools also prepare children very well for Western university and for the global, interconnected world they’ll be living and working in.
Living in another country can also provide children with the chance to experience different cultures and customs, learn new languages, and travel to exciting destinations.

Sometimes the entire school fees of your dependents are part of the benefits package of working in an international school, other times the school fees are discounted.

Here are the experiences of several international teachers living overseas with children:

Robert Downs' children in Thailand

A world class education for my children

Richard Downs is an Economics teacher from the UK who moved to Thailand with his family specifically in search of a better standard of education for his two children.

Richard contacted TIC who helped him find a position teaching at Harrow International School in Bangkok. “Teaching in the UK didn’t enable my family to lead the kind of lifestyle I wanted us to lead,” he says. “It’s been a great move for the children. They now go to a world class school and we live in superb accommodation, and are financially comfortable.”

Sarah Curran's daughter enjoying their pool in Vietnam

My daughter is developing such confidence

Welsh teacher, Sarah Curran is now working at The British International School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She moved there in 2015 with her husband and daughter Casi who is now eight years old.

“Casi is doing really, really well,” says Sarah. “She adapted from a small primary school in the Welsh valleys to a big school of 1,800 children in Ho Chi Minh City with no problems. The biggest change we have seen is the development of her confidence. She takes initiative and participates enthusiastically in activities with older children. She is friends with children from such a variety of cultures. Her best friends are Korean, French/Turkish, Vietnamese and she doesn’t see any difference in them. We talk about children having a global education; Casi is actually living global education.”

Robert Graves with students of Nord Anglia International School, Al Khor

A global perspective for our daughter

Robert and Sarah Graves also see the international school environment as beneficial for their daughter. They have worked as teachers and school leaders overseas for several years and are currently leading the Nord Anglia Chinese International School in Shanghai.

“Our daughter is growing up in a class with 30 nationalities,” says Robert. “She does not know colour, she does not know language differences, she does not know social backgrounds. Her friend Ayesha, is a multi-millionaire. Her other friend is from rural India. They all go on play-dates together.”

Janice Ireland shows Queen Beatrix around her school

Great experiences for older children too

Early Years specialist, Janice Ireland, originally from Swansea, Wales was a teacher and a leader in international schools in Kuwait, Libya, Egypt and The Netherlands before returning to the UK. Janice accepted her first international teaching job when her son, Matthew went to university. “Jessica, my daughter came with me and did her A levels in the same school as I worked. She absolutely loved it!” explains Janice.

“My children have experienced different countries not just from the perspective of a holiday-maker but from us actually living there. It helped them to become very internationally-minded. They now travel extensively as a result,” she says.

Words of wisdom

For those thinking about moving abroad with children, Sarah Curran says: “Expect the unexpected - you don’t know what’s going to come around. Adopting a positive mind-set about the forthcoming move was also really important to help Casi see it as a positive experience. She could see that we weren’t anxious and so she didn’t feel anxious as a result. If you are positive and everyone around you is positive it can help children a lot.”