3 reactions to this article

Matt posted: 2011-09-01 15:11:51

These results are also suggesting that the demand for English language education is also growing as that langauge continues to strengthen its hold on international commerce. Perhaps it is not so long until English becomes the international language of education.

One comment on the Dutch market is important and that is the access to international schools for local Dutch people. The international schools in the Netherlands (at least the publicaly funded ones, not the private schools) continue to maintain a policy that local Dutch people have to justify why they want an international/English education. Many fail to do so and are pushed into Dutch school against their wishes. Result: only wealthy people can get their kids an international/English education. These poorer Dutch people are already ata disadvantage on teh global market due to their lower wealth, why are they suffering double discrimination by being prohibited from English language education (that they nonetheless subsidize with their tax money)? If international/English education is so in demand, then the Netherlands should face reality and embrace that model. If they could just avoid the xenophobia, the Netherlands could be a global powerhouse!

ibc24 posted: 2011-09-02 20:11:57

I agree that the demand for English language education is also growing as that language continues to strengthen its hold on international commerce. Perhaps it is not so long until English becomes the international language of education.Perhaps it is not so long until English becomes the international language of education. Even so, by personal experience, when we arrived in Belgium in 1997, the International Schools available were situated only in specific areas/ cities where there is a large number of expat communities for which there is still a big demand for such schools, yet the costs per year per child at international schools are at an extreme cost, which most likely the tuition would be included as part of a relocation package within International Companies. In our case this did not apply and we could only support the primary years of education for our daughter for which we had no choice but to inscribe her in the Dutch school system in Belgium. The transition was traumatic to say the least in the beginning, until with the help of a "logopedist" or "tutor", she was able to understand and excell eventually in her studies. The need to have accessible schools around the world who provide English education has become more and more in demand since then, now there are discussing and suggesting in Belgium that English would be taught officially in all Flemish schools in the years to come. We already acknowledge English as "The Business Language in the World", I believe this would provide children with an advantage now and in the future. I thank you, Matt for your very eloquent comment on this article; let's hope it is view in a positive way and the education system to take this information into consideration as International Schools are in demand but at a very high cost.

kevin bartlett posted: 2011-09-09 08:01:28

Interesting article. Shouldn't the figures at the end be in GBPb, not m?