Anne Murphy, Director of ITS Education Asia (School Advisory Services), advises families on the school choices available for children from nursery through to secondary school.
The rapid expansion of schools and the opening of new campuses is fueling growth in another industry: education consulting.
Education consultants, once used primarily by only relocating families to help them select and get into top schools, are now being hired by expatriate and local parents in Singapore, Hong Kong and China to help them navigate a plethora of private international school options.
"I think middle-income families who wouldn't have paid for education consulting [before] are now because of the complexity of the options," said Anne Murphy. "No parent wants their child to be at a disadvantage."
To be successful, education consultants have to be in the know: They research curricula, visit schools, track exam scores, and are wired into local parent networks. They help families identify schools that match their children's needs and demystify application and admission processes that can differ vastly from school to school.
As choices have grown in some of the most populated expatriate destinations in Asia, so has business for school search specialists, said Anne Murphy. A former teacher, Anne started the School Advisory Services for ITS Education Asia in 2008.
"As the choices get more specific and defined by philosophy, parents have become curious, excited, and overwhelmed," said Ms. Murphy. With such a variety of options ranging from International Baccalaureate schools to language-immersion private schools "a lot of parents want to know, is that going to be the right choice for my child?"
The team of consultants at ITS Education Asia help parents sort through, and research, local Vs international school options as well.
Parent Profile
The type of client who hires a consultant to find a school might conjure images of overly ambitious parents—sometimes popularly referred to as a "tiger mom"—but Ms. Murphy said that this is not the case - the majority of their clients are just confused.
"Being new to the process, we didn't know how to even start our search," said Amy Shaw, a lawyer and mother of a 4-year-old boy who will enter a highly selective school in September 2016. He's the couple's only child, so Ms. Shaw and her husband have no prior experience in selecting schools in an all-choice environment like Singapore. “We moved from the UK and had no idea of the complexity in finding a school”, says Ms Shaw.
Anne Murphy, right, director of ITS Education Asia, tours Gems World Academy Singapore with Vandana Rao, the Client Services Manager for ITS in Singapore.
Ms. Shaw said she and her husband had no idea how to evaluate a ‘good’ international school in Singapore. "When we started looking at schools, they were all talking about waitlists and it really scared us."
The Shaws are similar to many of the clients who seek help from ITS and her school search team. Ms. Murphy started the school search services for ITS about eight years ago; she saw ample demand for the services even back then and the need has increased year-on-year. Most clients who engage with ITS are families relocating to Singapore, and they're enrolling their child (children) in the international school system for the first time.
ITS charges around SGD120 for a one-hour consultation—it's SGD50 if a parent also wants to extend the session by half an hour. To walk parents through the entire process, including multiple meetings and being on call to answer questions, preparing schooling plans, school pricing reports, interview preparation, and more, the price can climb to SGD5,000 for a Premier Package. “Most clients are with us from anything from 1 year to 6 months”, Ms Murphy says.
Ms. Murphy and Vandana Rao (Client Services Manager for ITS) are frequently invited to give talks at some major companies in Singapore.
At a recent lecture session were the Stacklers, American parents to a 3-year-old boy who will enter a popular preschool in Sinapore at the end of August.
"I'm looking for schools that offer languages, I'm originally from Argentina, and I want my son to learn Spanish at school," said Mrs Stackler. "[Ms. Rao] gave us very pointed information about schools that are completely under the radar."
Students Need an Advocate
Parents, as well as students, need an advocate during this application and selection process. An educational consultant is a guide during an exciting but confusing time in a student's and family's life. “We help to determine the best school fit for a child, often remaining their advocate throughout their entire educational process”, said Ms. Murphy
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