Parents are often faced with the dilemma of which school to choose for their child. International schools are often the first option considered. Designed to ease the educational transition of a move from one country to another, such schools are a good choice for the children of foreign parents who are staying temporarily in the host country.

However, for families planning to settle into a country long-term, the national school system could be the most effective path.

Each country will have its pro and cons and parents will have to consider such factors as the age of their children and language(s) spoken in the host country before making a selection.

Professional advice from organisations at the host location can help the expat come to the best solution for their children, or even themselves, should they be seeking to continue higher education. But who do you contact to access such information?   

To help families and individuals living in and moving to one of the Expatica countries - Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland - we ran a poll to find out your views on how to make the most of the education system in your chosen country and how pleased you are with the current situation.

Readers also went further and commented on international and national education outside the six Expatica countries.

To find out how the teachers themselves viewed it from the ‘other’ side of the system, we also ran a poll asking teachers what they felt were the greatest challenges of teaching outside of their home countries.

For both surveys, the majority of expats responding – about a quarter – came from the UK, followed closely by those of American origin. The diverse mix of other countries of origin includes Australia, Angola, Belarus, Belize, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Switzerland, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

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