International school advocates say they help ease the transition, while others claim real integration only happens at a local school. Rob Hyde reports on both sides of the issue.

When the wanderlust has worn off, many expats start to feel settled in their host country, but remain uncertain as to whether they should send their children to local or international schools.

Although international schools that use a fixed model, such as the British school model, provide a constant structure for country-hopping expat children, some argue that international schools may isolate these children from natives their own age.

Not so, however, according to Christine Burrett, the director of the British-style international school in the Netherlands.

"We go to great lengths to make sure that our expats feel integrated. Our newsletter appears monthly, and we have all sorts of events organised by the Parent and Teachers Association, such as coffee mornings along with counselling events for those who need particular support," she says.

"However, I definitely feel that an international school like ourselves is definitely the best education possible for expat children…This means that it is possible for children with parents moving throughout Europe to take them to any British school and smoothly be able to integrate. It's really the only way to get a really broad outlook on life."

Burrett also thinks children benefit from the international exposure. "The insight into other cultures is essential for a child, and I believe that from attending schools such as these, the pupils really end up as ideal ambassadors of the world for the future."

But hardly everyone shares such views.

Claire Antosweski is of dual British and American citizenship, and, because of her parents' career moves, has lived and worked in a number of countries, including the US, Africa, Poland, France, Africa and Austria, where she used to work as editor of the international newspaper, Austria Today.

Antosweski always opted to attend local schools as opposed to international schools. She strongly disagrees that international schools are the best choice for expat children.

"The important issue is to try and blend into the country," she explains. "If you are in an international school, then all you really do is try and kid yourself you are living in some sort of artificial British world, which can't function by the fact that you are not in Britain - you are in the US or wherever it happens to be."

Attempting to assimilate, believes Antosweski, prevents children from being "cut off" from the society they live in. "In America, I was at an American boarding school in Massachusetts, and am grateful for having been able to be treated like an American and get to know American kids," she says.

"The only exception to this is when I was in Paris at the American University doing art history. Although the environment was artificial, it was good because without attending here, I would have stood no chance of being able to study in France as my French was not good enough."

Aiden Cambell, originally from Northern Ireland, is director of the International School in Rotterdam. He previously worked at an international school in Singapore, but says this school operates within the framework of the Dutch education system - the children are more integrated with locals than they otherwise would be.

"Our school is a bit of a red herring," Cambell says. "It was set up originally to cope with Dutch people who had spent time studying abroad and then who returned to find they did not fit completely into the Dutch education system and needed a more international style of teaching."

"However, there is no 'ghetto mentality' here," he emphasizes. "We are a small school and work very much alongside the Dutch education system, as it actually funds the school."

"We really make sure that there is no attempt made to break away from Dutch people and Dutch culture, and also we end up being considerably cheaper than other international schools operating on the model of a certain country like the US."