Governance Principles Apply to all International Schools!
As everyone in the international school space knows, we are witnessing the rapid rise of owned, for-profit schools—a trend that has accelerated since the early 2000s. Where the international school sector was once dominated by non-profit, community-based, and embassy-affiliated schools, ISC Research confirmed in 2020 that the balance shifted, reporting that for-profit schools had become the global majority.
I first engaged with this emerging reality nearly twenty years ago, when I began leading workshops to support owned schools seeking entry into the community of accredited international schools—a community that, at the time, was often wary of the for‑profit model. Two decades later, the landscape looks very different.
Owned schools face distinctive governance challenges, including frequent board turnover, limited educational expertise among trustees, and ongoing tensions between financial imperatives and educational quality. These pressures are especially pronounced in investor-owned or group-operated systems. By contrast, not-for-profit schools contend with a different set of governance concerns: sustaining financial viability without profit margins, ensuring leadership continuity amid frequent transitions, and maintaining innovation and relevance in a rapidly evolving global education environment.
During my consultations and training with school owners, boards, and heads, I emphasize that while the fundamental principles of governance apply universally across all international schools, the model and processes must be tailored to the ownership structure and the specific context of the school or system. All schools face governance challenges, but effective remedies can be crafted to ensure effective governance!
Blessings,
David Wells
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