Differentiator between National and International Schools?

Luxury buildings and complete play facilities are often things for consideration in choosing a school. Physical appearance does not guarantee the quality of education. Children must have heard the names of international schools, national schools, and national schools plus. Since 2015, the international school label has been changed to the Collaborative Education Unit. Except for international diplomacy schools, which are established specifically for certain citizens living in Indonesia. Well, what’s the difference between a national school and an international school?

Curriculum. This is the main difference between national and international schools. Local and private schools use the national curriculum, which is set by the Ministry of Education and Culture. While international schools refer to international curricula, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge International Examination (CIE). National schools plus the SBI (International Standard National School) aka another. SBI combines both. The main foundation remains the national curriculum, but there is an additional international curriculum.

Just so you know, to be able to use the IB and Cambridge curriculum, a school must get official certification from the institution concerned. The process is long, takes months, or even more than a year. Schools must conduct teacher training according to international curriculum standards, complete various requirements, follow the assessment process, and in the end do not necessarily receive permission to use the international curriculum.

Language of instruction. Following the curriculum used, national schools use Indonesian as the language of instruction. While in international schools, all teaching materials will be delivered in English (and Mandarin). For national schools plus, there are several subjects that use English. Usually it’s math, science and English that uses an international curriculum. In international schools, most or the teachers are native speaker. Chating directly with them is believed to give children experience about how to pronounce English correctly.

Learning Materials. This also still refers to the curriculum used. Subjects of students in national schools are more than students in international schools. Fewer international schools focus on math, physics, chemistry, english, mandarin, and some optional lessons. Automatic, each subject’s study hours are longer and deeper. Story-shaped questions are also given more than numbers. While in national schools a lot of subject matter requires memorization.

Examination. In national schools, test schedules can be very crowded. Within a day, there are an average of two to three replications. While in international schools, the repetition schedule is more limited to one subject per day.

School facility. International schools have a higher standard of comfort. For example, the entire air-conditioned classrooms, complete library book collections, sports fields and swimming pools are available, multimedia learning media, canteens as cool as mall food courts, and so on. Of course not only international schools like that. Now there are also many national and national schools plus facilities that are no less comfortable and complete.

For more information please have a look here School for International Studies