International Schools and International Education: a relationship reviewed

Abstract Abstract Although used currently in common educational parlance, the term 'international education' is neither particularly extensively documented, nor well‐defined. The history of international education as a formal area of study within the wider educational sphere is a recently short one and the evolution of the concept is consequently at a relatively early stage. Similarly, the concept of the 'international school' is one which has developed rapidly over the past 40 years and is still relatively thinly researched. This paper summarises some of the most significant literature sources in relation to the development of our current understanding of international schools and international education and documents a range of interpretations which arise in the process. The notion that the term 'international education' is concomitant with the term 'international school' is challenged as an assumption, by examining the concept of what it means to be 'international' and its application both to the school as an institution and to education as a process. The paper includes an exploration of attempts which have been made both to define and to categorise international schools, and to clarify the distinction between such schools and schools which exist as part of a national system. Initiatives intended to introduce international education into the formal school system through specially designed programmes, from kindergarten through to pre‐university, are also reviewed, and preliminary work undertaken at the University of Bath is summarised as a possible pointer to clarification of the relationship between international schools and international education.