One of the biggest concerns of parents when they learn that they will be relocating overseas is how their children will adjust and be educated. “Will they be happy? Will they be safe? Will they be able to reintegrate when they return home?”
These are all questions that parents ask themselves before departure.
What they learn upon arrival in Beijing is that the city has a wide array of educational choices available, including world class schools like The British School of Beijing. Parents are quickly comforted with the knowledge that their children will be safe, happy and well educated.
Primary and Secondary Schooling
Beijing’s primary and secondary school community boasts programmes with increasingly elaborate facilities and varied academic offerings. For expat families that want an education using a standard international curriculum, Beijing offers a diverse range of international schools offering A Level, International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes and IGCSEs. In recent years, these IGCSE and A Level programmes have gained popularity with secondary schools thanks to their global appeal and recognition from top universities worldwide. Some of the international schools have a waiting list, but space is growing. However, admissions officers recommend applying by early March, as most schools begin finalising their rosters at that time. Contact them directly to find out if there is space in the specific years of your children. Most schools require an entrance exam, and typically an assessment is also required for students with less advanced English skills. Otherwise, parents and students simply fill out an application form and provide previous school records, medical records, standardised test scores and sometimes a letter of recommendation.
Tips for Choosing a School
Parents who have been through the process before say that finding the right school for your child starts with asking the right questions. In Beijing, expat families have a variety of schools to choose from. The choices range from prestigious international schools, to international divisions within local schools, to local schools themselves. And no two schools are the same, including the ones with multiple campuses. Institutions can vary in terms of curriculum, facilities, size, cost, location, activities, philosophy and sometimes even in teacher experience.
Before you pick up a single brochure, contact an admissions officer or set foot on a campus, prepare to get answers to these three key questions: 1) What is the student to teacher ratio, and what certifications do teachers have? 2) How will this school prepare my child for university? and 3) Does this school provide an environment that my child will thrive in?
1) What is the student to teacher ratio, and what certifications do teachers have?
Research throughout the world has consistently indicated that good teachers are the key element of children’s developmental and academic success. Furthermore, quality teachers are able to thrive when the student to teacher ratio is low. Smaller class sizes permit teachers to attend to the needs of each individual student and be innovative in presenting course material and facilitating learning. Be sure to ask admissions officers about teachers’ qualifications and class sizes. Follow up by visiting a few classrooms to get a feel for the environment.
2) How will this school prepare my child for university?
If your child is in secondary school, then knowing which country your child wants to head to after graduation will help determine which curriculum is best suited for them. Of course, American universities are familiar with the British curriculum and vice versa. The A Level and IB programmes are recognised worldwide. Students who plan to study in the UK or Asia (other than mainland China) are best served by preparing for and taking IGCSE exams in Year 11 and following on with A Levels. Likewise, though Canadian and Australian students have a bit more flexibility, most parents prefer to educate their children in the British curriculum.
3) Does this school provide an environment that my child will thrive in?
Ultimately, selecting a school comes down to personal taste. It’s tempting to try to generalise, but the fact is a large student body does not automatically mean a school is impersonal. Likewise, a small student body does not automatically mean a school lacks in course or activity options. If you can, visit the school and get a sense of the atmosphere. Read school marketing materials critically to determine their emphasis. Most importantly, talk to other parents. Ask what they like about the school and what they would change. Make the most of your school visit by paying attention to the tone of classrooms as well as general areas, noting interactions between students and teachers and among students themselves.
Here are some additional questions that parents report are helpful when gauging a school:
What is the annual turnover rate of teachers?
What percentage of teachers are certified to teach in their home country?
What IGCSE and A Level classes are available? Which are the most popular?
What foreign languages are available, and are students required to study Chinese?
Where do graduates go to university?
What extracurricular activities are available?
What community service opportunities are available?
Universities and Higher Education
Beijing is home to dozens of universities offering every imaginable program, and expats increasingly take advantage of the affordable tuition and transferable credits made possible by affiliations with foreign universities in Europe, Australia and North America. Most of the universities are located in Wudaokou, a pleasant student area in Haidan District. Peking and Tsinghua are two of China’s most prestigious and competitive universities. Peking University (www.pku.edu.cn) has excellent facilities and offers a wide range of disciplines. Touting itself as the Harvard of China, it draws the second largest number of expat students in China. Tsinghua is renowned for its engineering programmes (only offered in Chinese at undergraduate level), however its Chinese-language programs are popular with expats and it offers nice facilities.
For locals, the university admissions process is extremely stressful and based solely on nationwide examination results. Foreigners, however, are exempt from these exams. All one has to do to enroll in a Chinese university is fill out a simple application form, submit school records and other documentation, have a physical examination and show proof of language proficiency. The majority of expat students choose to leave China to study in the US or Europe, but more and more are choosing to study in a Chinese university for a year or more before transferring. Many international universities have satellite campuses in the Beijing area, particularly with Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programmes. The University of Maryland and Rutgers Business School have top-notch programmes in central Beijing.
Language Courses
Whether your life or work requires you to interact with non-English-speaking Chinese people or not, learning some Mandarin can make living in Beijing an easier, more enjoyable experience. Although English is commonly spoken in the city centre and in the proximity of expat communities, exploring many parts of the city, shopping and communicating with taxi drivers requires at least basic knowledge of Mandarin. If you are keen to learn there are two options. One is to enroll at a university, where the larger and cheaper classes generally focus on reading and writing Chinese characters. The other is to take classes at one of the many language schools, which offer full-time and part-time courses. Classes tend to be smaller and most schools also offer private tutors. Though they are more expensive, language schools tend to be more flexible when it comes to students’ language levels and schedules. Another difference is that language schools often avoid Chinese characters in the introductory levels, choosing instead to teach oral Mandarin using the Pinyin system (Chinese written in the Roman alphabet). Oral learning is easier and faster. Therefore, for those in need of some survival Chinese, this is probably the best option.
The British School of Beijing
The British School of Beijing offers the British National Curriculum and the A Level Programme in years 12 and 13. It is the only school in which teacher recruitment (90% of the teaching staff is brought from the UK), curriculum planning, program development and parent relations are all managed by veteran British administrators. This difference is immediately obvious to parents.
The British School of Beijing allows students to follow the same academic programme as their counterparts in the UK, and newer students report a smooth transition. This is an easy choice for British parents. Canadian and Australian parents are attracted to the parity in curricula, while many Asian parents appreciate the system of academic accountability and overall rigour of the British system, evidenced by the school’s excellent IGCSE results. For the 2007-2008 academic year, approximately 45% of Year 10 and 11 students were awarded A grades. This is exceptional considering that English is the second language of many students. All students in Years 12 and 13 participate in the A Level programme.
Besides The British School of Beijing’s commitment to academic excellence, the school is remarkably student-centred. State-of-the-art facilities on each of The British School of Beijing’s campuses offer competitive sports, fine arts and a variety of extracurricular activities, which are designed according to the demands of the student body. Admission to either of the British School campuses in Shunyi or Saniltun is non-selective for native English speakers and despite maintaining a low student-to-teacher ratio, waiting lists are not a problem. For more information, visit www.britishschool.org.cn.
Other international schools in Beijing
International School Beijing
10 Anhua Jie (near Yosemite), Shunyi District
Western Academy Beijing
10 Laiguangying Dong Lu, Shunyi District
Harrow International School
No. 5, 4th Block, Anzhenxili, Chaoyang District
Yew Chung International School
Honglingjin Park, 5 Houbalizhuang, Chaoyang District
Canadian International School
38 Liangmaqiao Road, Chaoyang District
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