The International Schools Review Forum

Perhaps this is a fruitless search but I am wondering about international schools (good ones) with a more socio-economic diversity. I am at the point in my career where I am SO tired of facilitating greater and greater life experiences for students who were already born into wealthy, or at least very well-off, families. I am thirsty for PROGRESSIVE international schools but it doesn't seem like there are any. Does anyone know of schools that actually bring students from a range of income backgrounds together??

There are lots of international teaching experiences that involve a broad range of kids, but not likely with the kind of "package" that gets talked about on this board. I worked at a school in India with a great range of kids, but I was essentially volunteering with a stipend and living expenses taken care of. What are you looking for?

Have worked in public, company owed and private-not for profit schools. The only one came close to what you are talking about was the company owned school because everyone had to attend, it was the only game in town so to speak. It had blue collar and white collar parents from a variety of countries.

Was it progressive? For the location it was...........the Middle East!

United World Colleges might be worth looking into based on what you're saying.

The Jay Pritzker Academy in Cambodia might interest you. I have no personal experience with the school, just what I researched online when I was job hunting earlier this year. It's a school for rural, poor Cambodian children established by an American philanthropist. And it's very much a community center in the sense that the students are provided with uniforms, breakfast, etc.

Wow monkey, that school looks super interesting. Did you find any others when you were researching? Their two 2013/14 openings are things hubby and I could teach but we aren't ready to go this year.

Another school worth checking out is the liger learning center

http://www.ligercambodia.org/liger-lear ... ng-center/

Well known international education leaders Robert Landau and Bambi Betts are involved, so I imagine that it would also be professionally rewarding as well.

Sorry teachermama, that's the only one I came across. There are volunteer organizations like World Teach if you want to work in underserved countries. I had a friend who did that her first year out of college. It's not the kind of program that generally attracts established teachers because there's, well, no real salary.

Thanks for the recommendations, all. I've heard good things about UWC and am keen to look into them. I would like to stay in international schools rather than go the charity route. (I teach HS/IB English right now.) It just seems so absurd to me that i-schools have not realized, or don't care to realize, that they are in a position to extend an education to all levels of society in many of the countries in which they work. In fact, some i-schools are the ONLY place that can happen in some countries, and yet they utterly and completely cater to the wealthy. Oh well, the ides of March wouldn't be complete without some venting.

I would dispute some of your assumptions about what international schools can do in the countries they're located. I guess my question to you is who is going to pay for it all? Unless you have some big donor, who is going to fund students whose families cannot pay or can only pay a fraction of the cost of the education, then a school isn't going to be open for very long. You don't seem open to the volunteer teaching, which is understandable to me because it's not a career where you make money.

But to get back to your original search, while I wouldn't call them progressive by any means, you do find socioeconomic diversity at DOD schools. Again, you're working with an American population.

A couple other came to mind though that do have big donors who fund the schools. Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls is one. Another school with some good resources is African Leadership Academy. At least in the case of the later (perhaps the former too), not all the students end up being able to attend university because there tends to be limited opportunities for international students needing scholarship.

What I like about the UWC schools is that if you graduate from one, there is Davis Scholarship money that can pay for university at certain US universities.

So there are a handful of places that might allow you to work at one of these schools. However, it is probably easier to work with students who are from poor families and to have a salary that allows you to live and eventually retire by working in your home country.

I find myself agreeing with eion_padraig as well. At the end of the day schools can only do what they have money to do, someone has to pay for it. These schools arent funded by government or grants. ISs are mostly just private schools/independent schools, and they act like them in many ways, being a non profit or charity school doesnt get the bills paid.

If you really want diversity in an international school try looking for a municipal (public) school. You may seem them advertised as "Euro" schools or "Trust" schools. You can also look into the regional municipal school system directly. You will see a lot more diversity in SEC. Be advised though that these schools arent going to compensate you nearly as well as a private school will. The "poorer" you go the closer you get to basically being a volunteer with a stipend and housing. If thats what you want to do, i would really recommend you look into the peace corp. I came across this organization thats hiring teachers for Bhutan

www.teachinbhutan.org