What is better for our children? The variable risks of international school education or the new alternative- Online Schooling? Should parents consider consistently excellent online education for their children before entering into the ‘pot-luck’ world of international schools? At Benbridge Academy, we think the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.
With an estimated 5.5 million British people living overseas, the demand for high-quality UK-style international education has never been higher. However, the rise of ‘corporate identity school chains’ and franchise schools linked to established educational brands does not always guarantee high quality education for our children.
“Online Schools with high-quality, transparent communication means that what you and your children see is what you get.”
It is understandable that families moving abroad and leaving behind their children’s creaky old comprehensive schools could be wowed by the impressive modern facades and olympic-sized swimming pools on offer in the international private sector. However, there are other, far more important things to consider when choosing the right school.
“Online schools like Benbridge Academy are attracting the best in forward-thinking, 21st century educators. Benbridge Academy’s teaching staff facilitate learning through multiple learning strategies; we believe that education is a dialogue. The student is always front and centre.”
Impressive facilities do not guarantee the style and quality of provision a discerning family would expect of international school education. The beauty of online education is the window into every classroom it provides, literally enabling parents to see for themselves the quality of their children’s learning experience.
“At Benbridge Academy, online education ensures that learning transcends geographical borders, sociological boundaries and the limitations of localised belief systems.”
For many expatriate families new to an international setting, the challenge can be to secure for their children ‘globally-minded’ education. A schools’ hidden curriculum is vitally important- that is, the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that our children learn in school depending upon their teachers’ backgrounds and beliefs. The transparent open-mindedness of Benbridge Academy’s learning culture ensures benevolent nurture along with a healthy world view.
“At Benbridge Academy, our teachers believe in the power of online learning. They are happy in the world of online education due the enhanced wellbeing and freedom of life choices that remote employment brings. Our school leadership believes in the empowering benefits of collaborative teamwork which gives all colleagues a sense of communal ownership. Happy teachers, effective teaching. Happy students, effective learning.”
The teaching staff turnover rate in international education is alarming. Studies have shown that international teachers leave schools for such reasons as pay, work-life balance, poor leadership, toxicity, a dearth of career development opportunities and a lack of appreciation. An unhappy teacher runs an ineffective classroom. Accordingly, a high staff turnover in an international school leads to a constant flow of teachers who often stay for short spells as they seek a better position. Teacher turnover rates in schools across the UAE range from 20% to 60%. It is clear that there is a link between poorly performing schools and high staff turnover.
“While Benbridge Academy’s teachers are recruited for their impressive qualifications and academic expertise, they have also been selected as deeply caring people who believe that the online environment can be a warm and welcoming environment conducive to growth and excellence.”
Under-funded international schools with increasingly toxic environments find themselves making late appointments out of desperation and the cycle of unsatisfactory education gains impetus. The victims in all of this are the students and their hard-working parents who find themselves paying high school fees for substandard services.
“Benbridge Academy’s fees are extremely reasonable. For a fraction of the cost of the average private international school, students have full access to a truly broad and balanced array of subjects along with the consistent pastoral care from a group of teachers determined to give them the best preparation for life.”
In the UAE, school fees range from 35, 000 AED (£7, 300) to 120, 000 AED (£25, 000) per annum. It follows that there is a vast difference in quality associated with these pricings. Even though the ‘premium’ schools may have highly impressive facilities, they are often over-subscribed and do not always value the cultural wealth associated with the best preparation for life.
“Benbridge Academy extolls the virtues of cultural wealth and creative freedom in online education.”
What the founders of Benbridge Academy term cultural wealth is key to their impressive recruitment record. “Throughout the recruitment process we came to recognise that the relatively new field of online education is attracting like-minded, forward-thinking teachers who have taken the decision to choose an alternative lifestyle in which they are the centre of their working lives,” reflects Nicholas Bennett, co-Founder of Benbridge Academy. “The fact that our teachers are living and working in a world that they have created rather than having to adapt to the written and, more importantly, unwritten politics of a traditional school environment gives them the freedom to be creative. With that creativity comes the natural inclusion of cultural wealth in online learning. Their experiences, skills and abilities become a vital part of the collaborative learning experience and our students, also freed from the constraints of peer pressure and negative, enthusiasm-draining climates, can take full part in the kind of meaningful dialogues- academic and developmental- that hone the skills that characterise successful 21st century learners.”
“We know what’s best for ‘third culture kids’. Online education with Benbridge Academy enables expatriate children to have the best of both worlds: a broad and balanced, high-quality education while experiencing aspects of a new culture that adds genuine capital to their life experiences.”
One of the problems faced by international families can be the challenges for their ‘Third Culture Kids’. Third culture kids (TCK) or third culture individuals (TCI) are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents’ or the culture of their country of nationality, and also live in a different environment during a significant part of their child development years.
The problem for third culture kids is that while we all want our children to adjust to new cultures as part of their growth, there may be aspects of the new locale that can be seen to narrow a child’s cultural experience. Moving to a country with different beliefs and prevailing cultural norms should be an enriching experience; parents should be wary of new limitations to their children’s learning potential.
“At Benbridge Academy, we believe that when education becomes a process of narrowing a child’s curiosity, it must be questioned.”
Parents of third culture kids should be extremely wary of the veracity of a school’s claim to international mindedness and a global perspective. For example, in some regions, teachers are unable to enter into a dialogue about certain aspects of identity and the inclusion of historical events related to rival cultures is frowned upon. Indeed, in the world of international education, there are numerous stories of teachers being deported for saying the wrong thing. This localised censorship goes against the tenets of freedom of expression we believe to be important for children. It doesn’t need to be this way. Online education with Benbridge Academy, enables children to have the best of both worlds: a broad and balanced, high-quality education while experiencing aspects of a new culture that adds genuine capital to their life experiences.
“At Benbridge Academy, it is our vision to be the ‘Gold Standard’ of 21st century Primary and Secondary School education.”
At Benbridge Academy, we ask the question: why should a family’s decision to travel to a new country be disadvantageous to their children? Why should our children be marginalised by cultural limitations when they can have online access to high-quality learning opportunities in the company of well-qualified, open-minded teachers from across the world? For a child who follows their parents from country to country, the benefits of quality online schooling are immeasurable.
- The challenge of a constantly changing educational history can be replaced by Benbridge Academy’s consistency, allowing relationships with teachers and online friends to bridge the shift from one country to the next.
- Where a Third Culture Child could be isolated in their own religious, racial or cultural minority, online education means that global perspectives are maintained in the classroom; education continues to be a process of enhancement rather than a means of narrowing the student’s viewpoint.
- Expatriate families once limited to whatever education their new location could offer can now turn to an excellent online school, like Benbridge Academy, safely assured that their children’s education is in excellent hands. A further advantage lies in the fact that a change of country, a new professional posting, will no longer mean yet another search for a new school. Benbridge Academy will be there, ready for your child to log on, wherever you are in the world.
- Where families moving overseas may be restricted to the educational culture associated with the employer or organisation, Benbridge Academy’s online flexibility offers the opportunity to break away from the rank and file associated with clusters of colleagues’ families attending the same schools. This means that families have a greater degree of choice in terms of their social lives. Overseas schools linked to overseas employers are not always the most positive environment for our children; they can become toxic extensions of the professional pecking order. This can apply equally to the children in the playground and the parents at pick-up time.
“Benbridge Academy exemplifies the ways in which online learning enhances flexibility in terms of scheduling, allowing students to study at their own pace and at times that best suit their family’s lifestyle and time zone differences. This can greatly reduce the stress and pressure associated with fitting into a traditional school setting while living abroad.”
It is not a truth, universally accepted, that all IGCSE students should study three science subjects and focus on Maths, more Maths and Further Maths. And yet, at many international schools, timetables are locked immovably due to the heavy weighting of those subjects. While such STEM provision is laudable it can be argued that it limits inclusion for those who are inclined to the Arts and the Humanities, for those who wish to pursue multiple language choices. When academic performance is valued over creativity, the breadth of a school’s offer must be questioned.
“Benbridge Academy believes that, while the traditional academic disciplines are important, it is essential that our children experience a wide range of learning, that they are able to express themselves, to have creative freedom.”
This is why Benbridge Academy discusses every child’s unique needs with each new family and seeks to develop a bespoke pathway that makes education vital and relevant. Yes, you can do three sciences at IGCSE. But you could choose Combined Sciences, too, which would leave you free time to study Art or Music, a second language, or many other subjects for that matter. At Benbridge Academy, timetables can be more flexible, subject choices more varied and imaginative.
“Benbridge Academy is a school without walls, a school without limitations. Why allow your child to experience less due to the cultural norms of another country when they could achieve more with us online?”
