TGE Review | The Global Educator

The world’s largest international-school operators kept expanding through 2026, buying campuses across new continents — and roughly two in five international schools now sit inside a group.

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Policy & Regulation

UK private schools shed international pupils as VAT and visa costs bite

Eighteen months after Britain applied VAT to private school fees, the latest census shows independent-school rolls — and overseas enrolment — still falling, with knock-on effects for the international sector that recruits the same families.

Aigner Ronja, Kohlmeier Michelle

Technology

Schools scramble to write the rulebook for classroom AI

With pupils and teachers already using generative AI daily, education systems are rushing out guidance and legislation — an early, uneven attempt to set the terms before the technology sets them.

Derivator2017

Families & Admissions

British school brands race into Vietnam and the Gulf

A run of new campus openings for 2026-27 shows where international-school demand is growing fastest — Vietnam and Saudi Arabia — as famous British names plant flags in booming local markets.

褒忠國中雲端網

Curriculum & Assessment

IB scores edge up again as a record May cohort collects results

The International Baccalaureate’s May 2026 session drew its largest-ever cohort and a slightly higher global average, extending a steady post-pandemic recovery — even as war forced some candidates to be graded on teacher assessment.

Basile Morin

Leadership & Governance

The revolving door at the top of international schools

A fresh wave of headship changes for 2026-27 has put a familiar problem back in focus: international-school leaders rarely stay long, and the churn is costly for the schools they leave behind.

Tim Reckmann from Hamm, Deutschland

Families & Admissions

Long waits, high stakes: the scramble for a school place

In the busiest markets, families are discovering that the hardest part of international schooling is not the fees — it is getting a place at all.

cogdogblog

Policy & Regulation

Phone-free classrooms become the rule, not the exception

More than half the world’s education systems now restrict smartphones in schools, and from September England makes it statutory — the clearest sign yet that the global mood on classroom phones has turned.

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Teaching & Careers

The Gulf keeps winning the race for teachers

New applicant data shows the Middle East tightening its grip on internationally mobile teachers, as international schools everywhere compete for a limited pool of experienced staff.

Tran Van Ngoc

Families & Admissions

The international school’s new majority: local families

The families filling international-school desks are increasingly local rather than expatriate — a shift that is remaking how these schools teach, position and describe themselves.

Philip Halling

Curriculum & Assessment

Gulf exam halls fall silent as boards switch to teacher-assessed grades

Regional conflict forced the major exam boards to cancel summer 2026 sittings across several Middle East countries, replacing them with coursework, portfolios and teacher assessment for tens of thousands of international-school candidates.

Tim Reckmann from Hamm, Deutschland

Policy & Regulation

Dubai holds its inspection pause — and the ratings that set fees

Dubai's schools regulator has carried its pause on full inspections into a second year, freezing the ratings that determine what schools may charge and leaving parents to weigh cost certainty against fresh, public quality data.

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