What is the main value of an international school to a community? That rather depends on the type of school and the culture it projects.

For example, a school that acts as an “enclave” of one culture embedded within another culture that it makes no effort to engage with is unlikely to develop strong community ties.

Yet, from an educational point of view, that could easily happen if you try to place a Eurocentric curriculum in a challenging environment like West Africa and expect it to flourish.

After all, what is the value to African children of learning about coastal erosion using European examples? Where is the resonance from literature in a book written by someone thousands of miles away in another language and from an unfamiliar society?

Instead, the core curriculum needs to be contextualised around local examples of geography, literature, art, history and so forth. Do that and the curriculum becomes infinitely less abstract and, correspondingly, a lot more real and present.

Local insights for global lessons

In Lagos, for instance, there are many examples of curriculum areas being easily blended into an international curriculum, resulting in a significant uplift in outcomes because of the everyday reality of the content.

This helps to show parents and pupils, as well as wider stakeholders, that you are there to be part of the community - not apart from it.

Similarly, international schools can set the agenda for safeguarding and wellbeing.

These quintessential aspects of school management are very often not as developed as they might be, not just in Africa but globally.

Real-world discussions

But an international school can exemplify standards and share thinking with local school communities that helps to encourage different approaches.

For example, one of the first activities I undertook in Nigeria was to work more closely with parents and, where possible, apply leverage with local organisations, like churches, to support behaviour and conduct.

One aspect of this work was outreach to parents regarding phone use.

The first conference we organised was attended by about 30 parents and focused closely on emotional health, phones and FOMO (fear of missing out) and FOMU (fear of messing up), both of which were causing children a lot of anxiety at the time.

A term later, the next conference was attended by about 300 parents, as the realisation that school was serious about supporting children’s wellbeing had clearly taken root.

This time we discussed how phone usage impacts children’s dopamine systems.

I was accompanied by a wonderful local influencer who outlined a number of strategies that parents could deploy to regulate their child’s phone usage.

Nonetheless, a number of parents were in tears during the break because they had become aware of the damage they had done to their children through their perceived generosity.

We worked through this and helped them to see that the purpose of the session was to rectify the damage done, develop strategies and change behaviour.

The attendance at that session and subsequent ones underlined the value of an international school as a social instrument for improving pastoral care.

Making SEND a topic of conversation

Similarly, in 2019, special educational needs and disabilities provision was in its infancy on the West Coast of Africa. Many families traditionally believed that a failure to progress with learning or to concentrate was a form of a curse or worse.

But embedding SEND provision and discussing this with parents helped them to understand that children have multiple needs, and failure to perform in an exam or test is not due to spiritual or ritual issues but a simple byproduct of neurology.

Now, although it still has a long way to go, SEND is more developed both in understanding and provision - a clear illustration of the benefits that international schools can bring to their adjacent communities.

Engaging and educating

That said, not everyone is a believer. I remember concluding a session on pastoral care and modernising approaches to behaviour with a large audience, who all nodded sagely.

Apart from one man, that is. He put up his hand and said: “Dr England, I hear what you say, but what is the best way to beat a boy?” Clearly, I still had some work to do there.

Such questions, though, have to be seen in the context in which they are delivered. We cannot shy away from the challenge, but we must seek a balance between respect for the local community and confidence in our ability to offer positive alternatives.

That can only be achieved if an international school truly embeds itself in its community: conversely, an international school with a weak or alien culture will convey neocolonial attitudes and will serve neither the wider community nor its stakeholders effectively.

When it is dexterously managed by empathetic and internationally-minded individuals, though, who genuinely “get” the culture they find themselves in and engage with respect and optimism, an international school is a great tool for broader social change.

Dr Adam England is the principal of Rugby School Nigeria