Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand August / September 2015 - Art & Education Issue | Page 18

Education

The ABC’s of
International Schools
In this article, we break down the complexity of school
selection based on input from expat parents in Bangkok.
by Shannon Frandsen

C

hoosing an international school
for their children is one of the
most overwhelming decisions
expat parents make when they move
to a new country. Seldom a straightforward procedure, many factors are
taken into account before enrollment.
Curious as to how expats tend
to tackle this problem, Wanderlust
Magazine surveyed expat parents in
Bangkok and asked them to describe
their thought processes. Expats wrote
in divulging which factors had the
most impact as they narrowed down
their options.
The seven factors most commonly
cited, in no particular order, were:
location, cost, curriculum, afterschool
activities, language of instruction,
native English speaking teachers, and
“gut feelings.”

DECIDING FACTORS
Location, cost, curriculum, after
school activities, language
of instruction, native English
speaking teachers, and
gut feelings were the most
commonly cited criteria that
expat parents in Bangkok used to
evaluate international schools.
Because parents weight each
characteristic differently, the way
a family arrives at a decision about
school is distinctive of the
family in question. However,
we can sort the factors to
make the daunting task of
choosing a school less confusing.
In this article, we have expanded
on four of the seven aspects
parents identified when choosing
an international school—location,
cost, curriculum, and afterschool
activities—plus a few more things to
take into account.
18 WANDERLUST

The following process would be
particularly useful for parents sending
their child to school for the first time. To
start, you’ll need a print out of a map of
Bangkok (or the city where you’re living
or moving to) with possible schools
marked in pencil on the map and your
home location starred.

A. LOCATION
How important is the school’s
location? What is the maximum
travel time you could accept for your
child, yourself, and your partner?

On your map, use a compass to
draw a circle around the widest area
that you could find acceptable, with
your home in the center. Then draw
a smaller circle inside it to indicate
the ideal area. Use this as a visual
starting point for your school search.
Draw individual circles around
schools that might be outside your
ideal area but are quickly reached by
mass transit.
If location has no bearing, or if
you plan to choose a school first and
then a home, skip this step.

In a congested city such as Bangkok,
what seems like a short distance in
kilometers can be difficult to traverse in
reality. The parents we surveyed were
in two minds about location. Many of
them are steadfast believers in short
commutes. Parents who placed low
priority on location would consider
a school inconveniently located if it
offered what they needed or desired.
Tip: Remember to take accessibility into account. Bangkok residents know that a distance of
5 km in heavy traffic can take
as long as a distance of 25 km
by train. Test out how
much time it truly takes
to reach a school in
question by making
the trip.

WWW.WANDERLUSTMAG.COM