The Future is Multilingual: Why International Schools Need a New Language Mindset

Patrice Thompson, M.B.A., M.Ed
International schools have never faced greater opportunity, or greater competition. The global market continues to expand, and families are increasingly invested in schools that promise to prepare their children for an uncertain future as AI becomes a bigger part of the conversation and global mobility rises. While parents still value academic excellence and English proficiency, they are also looking for something less tangible: graduates who can collaborate across cultures and thrive in an interconnected world.

If those are the outcomes international schools promise, then we need to ask an uncomfortable question: Are our schools truly international, or are they simply English-speaking?

One of the greatest untapped opportunities lies in how schools think about language. The ways we acknowledge, use, and value the languages students bring with them shape not only the academic success of multilingual learners, but also the kind of internationally minded communities we claim to cultivate. Research increasingly suggests that multilingualism is not an obstacle to overcome, but a resource for developing the flexibility, empathy, and global competence that today’s students will need in an unpredictable future.

Part 1: The Promise

When a parent chooses an international school, they are buying something more than their child’s ability to divide fractions, or understand cellular structures: they are buying opportunity.

Millennial parents, who make up a significant proportion of today’s international school customers, are looking for an education that will help their children prepare for a future that is not yet clear. Of course, academic success is important, but more and more parents are hoping their children will grow up to be creative, flexible, and global. As Morrison (2022) explains, being “book-smart” is no longer enough; children also need to work in teams across cultures and develop resilience and creativity. Communication skills, teamwork, critical thinking, (Gatta, 2026) and intercultural competence (Mulholland, 2013) are likewise becoming essential skills for the future.

Meanwhile, the rapid growth of international schools is undeniable. Between July 2022 and July 2023 alone, enrollment grew by almost one million students: a 14% increase in a single year. ISC Research reported 6.7 million children between the ages of three and eighteen enrolled in international schools worldwide in July 2023, representing 53.5% growth in the market since 2013 (Hingston, 2023). Among the major reasons families choose these schools are opportunities for learning in English and greater access to global career opportunities.

Of course, more students mean more schools, and international school leaders are increasingly familiar with the competitive challenge of enrollment and retention. These pain points are felt everywhere, as the number of schools has increased four-fold in the past two decades. That, with shrinking expat education packages and rising voluntary student attrition, makes for an increasingly competitive landscape (International Teacher Magazine, 2026).

Given the research on what parents are looking for and the skills students are likely to need in the future, we arrive at an important question: If schools are competing on “international education,” what does that actually look like?

Part 2: International vs. Internationally Minded

Traditionally, international education was associated with sending students or staff abroad to study. The objective was not necessarily the development of an international mindset, but rather real-world global experience and exposure.

Umar (2013) points out that many schools claiming to provide international education ultimately offer much the same education as any other school because they fail to focus on the components that originally inspired the concept. He outlines five elements necessary for fostering an international mindset: (1) exposure to people from different cultures within the school; (2) teachers who model international-mindedness through both formal and informal curriculum; (3) exposure to different cultures beyond the school; (4) a balanced curriculum; and (5) an executive structure consistent with the values of an international philosophy.

Under this lens, studying abroad can help with one, arguably two, of those pillars.

Umar’s framework also unveils a reality that cannot be ignored: many schools are international only in demographics.

A student might encounter classmates from different cultures every day, but how much of those cultures is allowed or encouraged to be expressed inside and outside the classroom? How many teachers in international schools remain within an “expat bubble,” learning little of the local language and customs, while expecting their students to demonstrate curiosity about the world around them? International school leaders frequently emphasize the importance of globally-minded education, but what tangible training, practices, and checks are in place to ensure that this actually happens in the classroom and on the campus?

For a school to provide an authentically international education, key decision-makers have to intentionally create an environment in which everyone understands what it means to be culturally sensitive, and globally minded.

A school can have students from more than fifty countries and still fail to develop internationally-minded graduates.

A true international education celebrates diversity without stereotyping it, preserves native and minority cultures, and helps students appreciate the value of connecting and collaborating across borders. Now more than ever, schools should be asking themselves: What are we doing every day to move toward that goal?

Part 3: The Opportunity We Are Missing

International Day has become a common, and joyful, part of life in international schools. The “flags, food, and festivals” are not something to be dismissed. Months of work can go into creating these events, and they capture one of the greatest gifts of belonging to such a diverse community.

But the isolation of a celebration of diversity to one moment per year takes an enormous asset for granted, and one that students carry with them every day.

Language.

In a survey of Saudi parents about why they chose international education for their children, program diversity and the opportunity to become more globally competent were important factors. Of course, English development was also a major consideration. Yet parents expressed concern as they watched their children speak more and more English outside school. They observed their children’s increasing identification with English-language culture, with less and less emphasis placed on their home language, Arabic (Alsaawi & Almulhim, 2024).

These parents were describing something I have heard anecdotally many times: students can begin to lose pieces of their identity, while trying to succeed academically and socially in an environment where one culture or language is perceived as higher on an internalized societal hierarchy.

This is where English-only expectations become particularly complicated.

International schools understandably want students to develop strong academic English. But language policies and practices also communicate status. When teachers respond negatively to home-language use, when students receive the message that academic thinking belongs exclusively in English, or when English becomes synonymous with intelligence and success, linguistic diversity is not simply being ignored. A hierarchy is being created.

History offers extreme examples of what happens when a dominant language is positioned as superior while native or minority languages are suppressed. The context of contemporary international education is, of course, very different. But the underlying lesson remains relevant: the ways which institutions treat language influence how people understand the value of their own language and culture.

English can absolutely be part of a student’s success story.

It does not have to, and should not, be the only language in it.

In fact, this matters for monolingual English-speaking students too. If our goal is to prepare graduates to communicate and collaborate in a global, multilingual world, then an environment organized around one dominant language gives them fewer opportunities to learn how to navigate linguistic differences.

Part 4: What Becomes Possible in a Multilingual Classroom

A growing body of research suggests that drawing upon students’ full linguistic repertoires can support learning, participation, problem-solving, collaboration, metalinguistic awareness, and identity affirmation. Translanguaging, for example, enables multilingual learners to use knowledge and skills across languages rather than treating each language as an entirely separate system (Cummins, 2021; Ardakani & Hatami, 2026).

These concepts sound great in theory. But what do they look like when students are not sitting in language class?

Imagine a science lesson.

A science teacher co-plans with an EAL teacher to make the content accessible for students learning English, then co-teaches the lesson. But it does not stop there, because plenty of students in the room may already be academically fluent in English while also speaking one or more home languages.

A teacher trained in translanguaging and intercultural strategies might activate prior knowledge in ways that are culturally and linguistically relevant to all learners. During the lesson, students may reflect on a question or discuss an idea in their home languages together: not because they do not understand the English, but because they understand the value of using another language as part of academic thinking.

When students move into collaborative or independent work, they might brainstorm, plan, annotate, or take notes using whichever linguistic resources help them make sense of the concept. They may move between languages while negotiating meaning with their peers before ultimately producing work in English.

Moving between languages is not necessarily easier. It asks students to make connections across linguistic systems while communicating across languages and cultures, drawing on prior knowledge, and making deliberate choices about how to express their thinking.

The final product might be in English. The process, however, does not have to be.

And this positive attitude toward linguistic and cultural inclusion should extend far beyond an individual lesson. It should be visible in leadership language, school displays and celebrations, family communication, curriculum, professional learning, and opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration.

That is how inclusion becomes part of a school’s culture. It’s also how adults model the openness, flexibility, and respect we hope our students will carry into the world.

Part 5: This Is What International Mindedness Looks Like

In an attempt to understand what it means to be truly “international,” Hayden et al. (2000) surveyed more than 200 teachers and 1,800 students from 43 schools in 28 countries.

Interestingly, their responses focused less on passports or travel and more on attitude.

Being international meant being interested in and informed about other parts of the world, demonstrating open-mindedness and flexibility, showing respect for others and for differences of opinion, and being able to speak more than one language fluently.

UNESCO has similarly reaffirmed its support for multilingual education, arguing that multilingual and multicultural education can strengthen social cohesion while giving learners greater ownership of the learning process. Alidou et al. (2011) summarize one of its central goals as eliminating prejudice and discrimination while enabling every learner to participate and contribute academically.

This brings us back to the limitations of International Day.

International mindedness is not something students absorb because they once wore traditional clothing, sampled food from another country, or walked past fifty flags in the lobby.

It is practiced.

It happens when students learn that another person’s language carries knowledge worth hearing. It happens when they discover that meaning can be expressed in more than one way. It happens when teachers show curiosity about students’ identities, rather than treating linguistic differences as a problem to be solved. It happens when students learn to collaborate with people whose experiences, languages, and assumptions differ from their own.

And there are academic implications as well. Cummins (2021) emphasizes that literacy skills and conceptual knowledge can transfer across languages rather than being learned from scratch each time a student acquires another language. When teachers understand how to facilitate that transfer, students have greater access to what they already know while developing the language of instruction.

Conversely, when minority-language students receive minimal support in learning the language of instruction while their home language is simultaneously excluded, the development of strong literacy can be undermined across both languages.

Language inclusion is therefore far more than an instructional strategy for multilingual learners. It is a mindset that shapes the culture of a school.

When students’ languages are recognized as assets rather than obstacles, schools can foster stronger academic participation alongside the openness, respect, curiosity, and belonging that define international-mindedness.

Language inclusion becomes one of the most tangible ways an international school can live out the values it promises to families.

Part 6: Leadership Matters

Schools are very good at shaping culture.

When a new priority emerges around sports, mental health, service learning, academic integrity, or another whole-school initiative, leaders know how to mobilize a community around it. There are always challenges (nothing good ever came easy!) but… school culture does not happen by accident.

When something is genuinely prioritized, it becomes visible everywhere: in policies, professional learning, student and staff expectations, communications, resource allocation, and everyday interactions.

Whether schools can shape culture is therefore not really the question.

The question is: What are they choosing to prioritize?

In international schools, much of the community is multilingual. Yet linguistic and cultural diversity is still frequently treated as a bonus feature, rather than a foundational element of an international education.

So where is the disconnect?

Masita (2024) suggests one possibility: schools and curricula may recognize the importance of multicultural understanding without clearly articulating what its development actually looks like in practice. Lalita (2024) similarly argues that schools must learn how to harness diversity to develop globally minded individuals who can participate in increasingly diverse and interconnected societies.

But international mindedness requires commitment from the whole community, and that culture starts at the top.

Leadership models inclusion through their own words and actions: by showing curiosity about the local culture, visibly supporting language-inclusive practices, promoting curricula in which students encounter both themselves and the wider world, and ensuring that professional learning gives teachers the tools to make these values real.

Multilingual environments should be audible and visible across campus. School-wide policies should reinforce, rather than contradict, classroom practice. Families should understand why their home languages matter. Teachers should not have to independently decide whether multilingualism belongs in learning.

Without explicit modeling, professional learning, and coherent communication from leadership, students can experience an entirely different philosophy of language from one classroom to the next.

If international-mindedness is genuinely part of the mission, it cannot depend on which teacher happens to be standing at the front of the room.

Part 7: Steps to Take Now

If this resonated with you, there are practical steps school leaders can take right away.

1. Audit which languages are visible (and audible) around campus.

Look beyond multilingual signage. Whose languages appear in student work on display? Which books are featured in the library? Which languages are heard in assemblies, performances, exhibitions, and informal school spaces? Visibility communicates value.

2. Examine English-only habits.

Not every use of English is an English-only policy. Schools need a shared language for communication, and English may appropriately fill that role. But leaders can examine which restrictions are genuinely necessary and which exist primarily because “that is how we have always done it.”

3. Include multilingualism in professional learning.

Teachers need opportunities to understand how students draw on their existing linguistic and cultural knowledge across subjects, and how to make that process visible and useful in learning. Teachers are busy people. If language inclusion is not part of the professional learning calendar, most will not have the time or support to develop this expertise independently.

4. Engage families as linguistic assets.

Inviting families into school is only the beginning. Schools can communicate clearly why preserving and developing home-language literacy matters, while also drawing upon the linguistic and cultural knowledge that families bring to the community.

5. Move cultural celebration into everyday learning.

I must reiterate that I thoroughly enjoy International Day and will gladly go home with a full belly and happy memories of multiculturalism. But students have countless other opportunities throughout the year to learn from each other, encounter different perspectives, and develop a global outlook. International-mindedness belongs in everyday learning.

6. Develop multilingual mindsets, not simply multilingual strategies.

Strategies matter, but mindset drives their use. When teachers become genuinely curious about their students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds, they begin finding increasingly natural ways to incorporate multilingualism and multiculturalism into their practice.

Schools that ignore students’ linguistic resources are overlooking one of the most powerful, and potentially differentiating, ways to prepare graduates for the future.

Families increasingly expect schools to prepare their children for a world defined by mobility, diversity, technological change, and uncertainty. The schools that thrive will not simply teach English exceptionally well. They will help students become confident communicators and collaborators across languages, cultures, and perspectives. A multilingual mindset may still be treated as a niche initiative in many international schools today.

However, I do not think it will remain one.

In the future, I believe it will become one of the defining characteristics of an excellent international school.

At Conex-Us Consulting, I work with international and bilingual schools to turn these ideas into practice through professional learning, leadership support, and school-wide language inclusion initiatives. Schools interested in developing a more intentional approach to multilingualism can learn more at www.conex-usconsulting.com.

References:

Alidou, H., Glanz, C., & Nikièma, N. (2011). Quality multilingual and multicultural education for lifelong learning. International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l’Education, 57(5/6), 529–539. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41480141

Alsaawi, Ali & Almulhim, Fahad. (2024). Impact of the English-Only Policy on Learners at International Schools from the Perspective of Teachers and Parents: A Sociocultural Study in the Saudi Context. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics. 10. 1-11. 10.32601/ejal.10201.

Cummins, J. (2021). Rethinking the education of multilingual learners: A critical analysis of theoretical concepts. Multilingual Matters.

Davari Ardakani, N., & Hatami, M. (2026). Translanguaging and codeswitching in language education (2014–2024): A systematic review of conceptual shifts, pedagogical applications, and research trends. Journal of Language Horizons, 10(1), 155–186. https://doi.org/10.22051/lghor.2026.53711.2085

Gatta, M. (20 April 2026). Employers Say New Grads Are Largely Prepared for Work, With Room to Improve. National Association of Colleges & Employers. https://naceweb.org/career-readiness/trends-and-predictions/employers-say-new-grads-are-largely-prepared-for-work-with-room-to-improve?

Hayden, M. C., Rancic, B. A., & Thompson, J. J. (2000). Being international: Student and teacher perceptions from international schools. Oxford Review of Education, 26(1), 107–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/030549800103890

Hingston, T. (2023, August 9). The most recent data on the international schools market for 2023. ISC Research. https://iscresearch.com/the-most-recent-data-on-the-international-schools-market-for-2023/

International Teacher Magazine (13 June 2019). 10 findings about international school admission in 2019. https://consiliumeducation.com/itm/2019/06/13/growing-competition/

Masita, Ella. (2024). Multiculturalism and Multicultural Education in Kurikulum Merdeka. English Language Literature & International Conference Vol. 6 No. 1

Morrison, N. (2022, April 21). Creative, flexible, global: What millennial parents want from schools. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2021/12/09/creative-flexible-global-what-millennial-parents-want-from-schools/

Mulholland, J. (04 March 2013). Why employers value intercultural skills. British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-employers-value-intercultural-skills?

Lalita, M. (2024). CULTURAL DIVERSITY, GLOBALIZATION, AND EDUCATION: NAVIGATING CHALLENGES AND EMBRACING OPPORTUNITIES. In Art, Culture and Education (Ser. 978-93-94982-76-5, pp. 80–89). essay, Madhav Prakashan.

Rodríguez, Agustina. (2018). International Mindedness in Education. Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education. 7. 10.35765/mjse.2018.0714.06.

Umar, M.(2013) Demystifying international education: Concepts, ideas and ideologies. The Maldives National Journal of Research, 1(1), 57-71.