International Education
When it opened 40 years ago, it had only a handful of pupils. Today, the International School of Amsterdam (ISA) has 954 students from 50 different countries.
High standard of education
For director Edward Greene, the biggest challenge to accommodate the increasing number of pupils, without lowering the ISA’s high standards. “I am proud that many of our students move on to top universities or colleges,” he says. “Better yet, it appears that most of our students do better here than they did at their previous schools."
International community
High-quality international education is an increasingly important requirement for a business location. In Amsterdam, Amstelveen and other neighbouring cities, there are 21 schools that provide an international (multilingual and multicultural) education. These include schools within the Dutch system and community schools as well as private schools. Dutch secondary schools are increasingly offering a multilingual curriculum.
Policy-makers see further improvements in international education options as key to maintaining the Amsterdam Area’s attractiveness as a business location.
Multiple intelligence
Ed Greene explains the secrets of the ISA’s success in successfully educating a wide variety of students of many nationalities. “We work with classes of up to 20 or 22 students, and the exam classes are even smaller,” he says. “In addition, we pay above average salaries for the best teachers.”
The ISA also looks beyond cognitive knowledge alone. “Outside the USA,” says Greene, “we are one of the first schools to focus attention on the so-called ‘multiple intelligence’ idea: that one child learns most easily through listening, another through reading, and so on. Particularly in an environment where not everyone speaks the same language, such learning techniques are very important. For the same reason, we give a lot of attention to inter-culturalism and the arts.”
The result
An overwhelming 98 percent of all ISA’s final year students were accepted by a university or college last year. “And that includes places like Imperial College or Insead,” adds Ed Greene proudly. “Incidentally, one of our best students that year opted to remain in Amsterdam. She is studying dance, and there’s almost nowhere better for studying modern dance than here.”
Read more about international education in Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
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Photo: Rahi Rezvani
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