FUTURE, cont'd from pg 7 
of Secondary Education (IGCSE); the IB’s extension of its Diploma for 16-19 year olds to include the Primary Years Programme (PYP: ages 4–11), Middle Years Programme (MYP: ages 11-16), Career- related Programme (CP: ages 16-19); and Fieldwork Education’s International Primary Curriculum (IPC: ages 5-11), International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC: ages 11-14), and International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC: ages 2-5). All are now o ered in growing numbers of international schools worldwide.
In considering what the future may hold with respect to the curriculum o ered in international schools, it would seem reason- able to assume that if the number of such schools is to increase, then the demand for the programmes o ered in them will also increase. What is less clear is whether the increase is likely to be linear, in the sense of similar growth in all the programmes cur- rently o ered, or whether it might be in-  uenced by what we have suggested will be an unbalanced growth across the di erent types of international school, with the Type C school—largely catering for ‘host country nationals’ and in many cases established on a for-pro t basis—growing at a faster pace than the Type A school—largely not-for- pro t and catering for globally mobile expa- triates. Are the students at Type C schools more likely to aspire to one type of curricu- lum and quali cation, rather than to anoth- er? Or are they as likely to be motivated to attend an international school o ering, for instance, one or more of the IB programmes as they are to attend a school o ering, say, the Advanced Placement International Diploma? Will the answer to this question be in uenced by the country in which the school is located? For example, are the  ai students now attending the large number of international schools, which opened in  ailand since a change in legislation some 20 years ago allowing  ai students to at- tend international schools for the  rst time, more likely to aspire to a prestigious univer- sity in one or more particular country/ies, and will this in uence their choice of school curriculum?
Indeed, can it be assumed that the range of curricula available through international schools—whether designed to be interna- tionally-focused, such as the IB, or essentially
the curriculum of a national context, such as the Advanced Level (A Level) of England— will remain essentially the same in future years? If the changing nature of the interna- tional school sector can be attributed at least in part to entrepreneurs and investors iden- tifying international education as an attrac- tive commercial prospect, is it not likely that entrepreneurs will at some stage identify the curriculum as a potential area for investment in creating a new competitor for existing programmes? One area for careful thought by anyone considering such an initiative would be the age range of the curriculum to be developed. While the pre-university 16- 19 age range might in some respects be the most attractive context for o ering a new programme—since those attending interna- tional schools with aspirations of admissions to overseas universities are likely to be most interested in selecting a school with a pre- university international programme which is widely recognised globally—it is also the most problematic age range for which to develop a new programme.  e backwash e ect of the typical rather than traditional university worldwide sector would certainly be a major consideration in relation to the length of time it would take for a new pro- gramme to achieve recognition. And the challenges of persuading parents that the risk of o ering a relatively new, rather than a well-established, programme would be one they and their child should take. Perhaps, then, it is less likely that new curricula will be introduced at that age range – though at the lower age ranges, where the curriculum and assessment is less high stakes, it may not be surprising if new curricula emerge in the coming years.
Conclusion
No one can predict with any con dence the ways in which international schools will de- velop in the coming years. It may be that fu- ture events will have a much greater impact on the manner in which we live our lives than we can currently even begin to imagine, and lead to such new and di erent demands and pressures on education globally that ex- trapolation from the current context is an essentially meaningless exercise. It seems likely that growing numbers of schools will lead to greater competition, both locally (in, for instance, large cities where schools will compete for students) and globally, where schools will be competing for the limited resource of well-quali ed and experienced teachers. In such a climate, teachers with particularly relevant quali cations, such as
Master’s degrees specialising in internation- al education, or the IB Educator Certi cates o ered by growing numbers of universities worldwide, may well be particularly market- able. Rigorous school accreditation systems are likely to be ever more in demand as a means of di erentiating between schools in an increasingly diverse market.
Indeed it is not di cult to imagine a sce- nario where a number of well-established, experienced and well-regarded internation- al schools form a self-declared elite group within the sector. It is also not di cult to imagine, as national education systems be- come more interested in developing an in- ternational contribution to the learning of their students that the concept of interna- tional education continues to evolve from having been associated with education in international schools to increasingly being seen as the norm for schools in whatever context they are located. In an ever more globalised world, it is not di cult to envis- age that education with a purely national, as opposed to an international, focus will decrease in attractiveness for growing num- bers of those considering education in na- tional and international, state-funded and private, schools worldwide. 
Mary Hayden is Director of the Centre for the study of Education in an International Context (CEIC) at the University of Bath, UK. M.C. [email protected]. Je   omp- son is Emeritus Professor of Education
at the University of Bath. Je   ompson, J.J. [email protected].
References
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Hayden, M. C., &  ompson, J. J. (2008). International schools: Growth and in uence. In UNESCO Inter- national Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) Fundamentals of Educational Planning series, Paris: UNESCO. Retrieved from publications.iiep.unesco. org/International-schools-growth-in uence
Hayden, M. C., &  ompson, J. J. (2011). Teachers for the international school of the future. In R. Bates (Ed.), Schooling internationally: Globalisation, interna- tionalisation and the future for international schools. Lon- don: Routledge.
Hayden, M. C., &  ompson, J. J. (2013). International schools: Antecedents, current issues and metaphors for the future. In R. Pearce (Ed.), International education and schools: Moving beyond the  rst 40 years. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Keeling, A. (2015). International schools market expands to 8,000 schools. Retrieved from www.relocatemaga- zine.com/news/ak-11-d2-2015-7857-international- schools-market-expands-to-8000-schools
intered www.aaie.org
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