The roots of increasing acceptance of international schools in the world and Iran

The existence of 2584 international schools by the year 2000 in the world

 The expansion of international schools (international education before entering the university) is one of the phenomena that has made the international competition to attract global talents more difficult. Although the majority of educational migrations in the past took place at university levels, the expansion of international schools around the world can be seen as one of the emerging trends in the field of international education.

International schools were initially created to meet the needs of a small portion of the English-speaking immigrant population in non-English-speaking countries who wanted to raise their children with the English language and western ideals, but the expansion of the market of these schools, forced the native families, who were often rich and wanted their children to study in their homeland and also in an international environment, to enroll their children in such schools.

Nowadays the market of international schools has expanded more. ISC research represents that by the year 2000, there were 2584 international instructors around the world, which hosted approximately 988 thousand students and 90 thousand teaching staff. Spain, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Thailand were among the countries that dominated the market at that time.

Availability policies of new international schools for the indigenous of the countries

The increasing demand and desire of families for their children to study in international schools is known as one of the main reasons for the rapid expansion of international schools in the world. Currently, many families from different countries who may not be in the highest income classes are willing to enroll their children to study in an international school; because they know that this may increase the chances of getting a reliable university position for their children. Also, teaching in English and increasing access to global job opportunities are other reasons that have made such schools attractive all over the world.

Although many international schools in the world are established with the aim of meeting the educational needs of settled immigrants, the improvement of the economic status of the countries has accelerated to this global movement. Today, international education at the school level is on the priority list of many families who can afford it. The result of this is that many new international schools are matching their costs with the income of local families and increasing the accessibility of local people to these schools.

A tendency to study in multilingual schools in Iran; The weak role of academic motivations

Although the emergence and expansion of international schools in Iran, can indicate the continuation of this global trend, the commodification of education and the provision of educational needs of students who have been abroad and have now returned to the country, but the increasing desire of Iranian families to educate their children in international and multilingual schools should be explored from another view. In fact, the increase of this desire should be attributed to the change in Iranian families' immigration behavior; A behavioral change that its signs can be clearly seen in Iranian society and families. In other words, this change in immigration behavior has caused many families who have financial ability to prepare their children to migrate abroad from an early age by placing them in an international environment due to despair about their children's educational future. An issue that can be a warning for educational migration in childhood and adolescence in Iranian society, an emerging phenomenon in which educational motivations seem to play a smaller role.

• ICEF. (2021, November 19). Tracking fundamental shifts in the international school’s market. ICEF Monitor - Market Intelligence for International Student Recruitment. https://monitor.icef.com/2021/11/tracking-fundamental-shifts-in-the-international-schools-market/