Brexit - impact on EU cities

[Bobochic]

What do you think will be the impact of Brexit on life for international families in Paris/Frankfurt/Amsterdam etc if businesses and institutions relocate from London to other major EU cities? I have heard rumblings about expanding the number of school places in international and bilingual schools (and there is pressure on such schools already and, in Paris, little room for growth). What about the impact on housing? And other facilities?

I cannot relate at all. What concerns exactly do you have?
In my own position, it makes absolutely no difference to my children's lives if many international families move elsewhere. The local schools will be a bit emptier in practice hopefully which can only be positive. Already I live in a country were net immigration is almost as high as the UK.

I don't have "concerns", I am trying to measure impacts.

The impact where we live in local schools will be positive, if it means less children per class. As for the European schools, well no-one knows at all, but if the British children lose their places when their parents lose their jobs, then they'll just be replaced by even more English second language, pushing up the percentage of non native English speakers in the English sections. As for the international schools, well 3 new ones opened this year and the 3 biggies have continued to experience student population growth and have millions in the bank, I don't think they are overly worried.

It would be bloody great for us, boost school numbers.

I would imagine there would be more clamour for International Baccalaureate schools.

Personally I think it would be great if it meant an expansion into some of the larger, non capital cities and an increase in the number of international schools. However, I can't see anyone wanting to come and live here

cannotsee, even after one of the biggies has just splashed the cash on a new pool and other things? I was always curious as to how much they actually had in the bank.

It might mean that NATO kids get to go to the European schools, as currently they are way down the pecking order.

Will the 'British' schools be able to retain that title, and what will it be worth? Yes, you'll still have the HM Forces kids and NATO kids going there in Tervuren, but what about BSN and BSP?

How will the European Schools recruit and fund English section teachers post-Brexit?

Are your DC at ISB?

Scary, they are a company, so I guess you can look at their accounts, I think it will be at least 25 million, they have never gone into debt, numbers are likely to hit 1400 soon, Belgians are about 10% of the school, British still biggest at about 45%, then Americans just over 10% and then Belgians. The numbers have increased every year I've been here and this year was the biggest percentage increase.

Bobochic - the UK hasn't been sending any new teachers or replacing those whose secondments are up for several years now. Recruiting English mother tongue teachers is a real issue.

Will English remain a vehicular language for the European Schools?

Asides from the school aspect, I think that there will be a short to medium term boom here (Lux) as companies set up distribution mechanisms for UK financial products.

Porridge - obviously the English sections in the European Schools have more than just British and Irish pupils and the demand for ESL teachers in European Schools is very high and so the requirement for English MT teaching staff is totally disproportionate to the relative size of the English MT pupil population. But I don't understand how the U.K. cannot send any teachers at all.

How will the European Schools recruit and fund English section teachers post-Brexit?

Same as we do with teachers from Canada, aus, NZ and the US. We recruit and they come on visas, which they then renew every (3?) few years.

cannot, ds went to BSB from 2006-2012, and some years there were lots of spaces available, and they were concerned about numbers, so it is evidently swings and roundabouts.

I think if people have to localise post Brexit, then there may be a diminution in UK numbers, as I certainly wouldn't be paying those fees out of my own pocket. A years fees there would cover a good chunk of the full costs of uni in the UK!

Instantly, I very much doubt the European schools would seek to recruit teachers from non EU countries, when there are so many teachers available with EU nationality who speak English and have the rights of freedom of movement (unless they are undesirable criminals for example which disqualifies EU nationals from rights of freedom of movement).

The European schools now fund localized teachers, they might be British, Irish, Cypriot, Maltese, or in fact might be French or German or Dutch etc but who speak English. The argument over the UK funding teachers for EEBs is down to counties such as Slovakia refusing to set up their own language sections, unlike other new European counties like Latvia who have, meaning 50% if not more of English places are taken up by nationals of countries who refuse to fund their own language sections but instead take monetary advantage of the UK and Ireland by taking those places and in many cases depriving British citizens of places in EEBs!!!! So the UK government said sod that, we're not paying any more for those counties who refuse to fund their own sections, bugger off European institutions, fund those teachers yourselves and so that was what happened.

I'm just speaking from the point of view of my school. What matters is you speak English and want to teach there. Aside from that they have no interest in where you are from.

It's up to each individual to sort out their visa.

"I have heard rumblings about expanding the number of school places in international and bilingual schools (and there is pressure on such schools already and, in Paris, little room for growth). What about the impact on housing? And other facilities?"

So basically you're worried fleeing Brits will turn up and take your houses, school places and clutter your doctor's surgeries? Oh, the irony!

No-one is anticipating "fleeing Brits". What they are anticipating is companies moving from London to other EU cities and that their personnel will need houses and school places.

Not sure I entirely understand the OP. I think there is a bit of confusion re. the different types of schools being talked about, and the types of teaching staff that they prefer to employ, and how they are run. I know DH's school doesn't have money to splash on swimming pools ;-))

DH works in a school with Anglophone US / UK section which always prefers to employ native English speakers with a PGCE teaching qualification or the American equivalent, plus experience of teaching in the British / US system. Two things that have happened since the Brexit vote... After an initial flurry of applications for teaching jobs, they have died right down. It would appear that due to the uncertainty about the outcome of Brexit, people are choosing to stay put in the UK for now. So it looks like it may get even more difficult to find native English speaking / UK / US qualified teachers, at least in the short term. and more positions will be filled by English speakers from other countries, with or without teaching qualifications. It depends on the school, I guess, as to whether this is a problem.

Also, they've recently lost a brand new member of staff because he couldn't find an apartment to rent. He was told (off the record by an estate agent) that, due to the Brexit vote, local landlords were reluctant to rent to Brits now, and that their application would likely be put to the bottom of any pile for consideration. It wasn't his only reason to leave but after several months of getting nowhere, he's given up and is going back to the UK, at least until the dust settles.

Is there really going to be a shortage of native English speaking teachers for international schools?

I seriously doubt it; people with varied CVs including teaching qualifications and a few years of teaching seem to be 2 a penny among the "I've somehow ended up here" section of the British ex-pat community, and mostly end up doing something else entirely or a bit of tutoring and adult EFL, if they just have a PGCSE plus a few years of UK state school experience rather than international school / international baccalaureat background. I'm sure international schools could very easily recruit locally in most places if all they wanted were native speakers with some form of teaching qualification.

PGCE - not sure where the S came from...