Creating TCK Education Policy for Sending Organizations

Earlier this year, PACE hosted a virtual meeting focused on TCK education policy for consultants who involved in developing policy at the organizational level. Four panelists shared their experience and insights with us, each from a different sending organization. Below is a summary of what we learned.

General requirements for each organization

Each member of the panel works with an organization that does not mandate how a family is to education their children. Several require education plans of families prior to leaving for the field, either through a process within their own organization or the PACE “Education Planning for Families in Transition” course.

Several organizations already require or are considering requiring annual testing for families in a non-traditional school situation. At this time, only U.S.-normed standardized tests are being used. Another consultant works within a team that is encouraging organizational leadership to include children’s education factors in on-field annual reviews.

One panel member observed that her organization had too much education policy in the past, then too little, and now she is working to find a middle ground. She stated, “The more we can empower parents, the better.”

Another panel member described efforts to increase communication between those supporting children’s education, those involved in child protection, and member care/counseling.

What should the main points of education policy cover?

The panelists agreed that education policy should cover the entire timeline of a family on the field, from intake to pre-appointment to pre-field to on-field stages. Several mentioned the critical nature of education planning, with one panelist emphasizing the importance of pre-field training and education planning.

One panelist stated that the main points of policy are planning, testing, and child safety. A second panelist also stated that child safety should be a component of policy, and that testing was an issue under examination by her organization. Another reminded participants that education policies should support the overall goals of the organization. The clearer this is, the more likely that education policy will be adopted and enforced.

Additionally, another panelist emphasized the importance of how education policy is presented. It should be clear that any change in policy is for the family’s benefit. Another panelist reiterated this by stating that policy should be examined through the lens of relationships between parents, children, leadership, etc.

Ways to envision leadership when trying to establish educational policies

Several suggestions were made:

• Write an article/paper outlining policy and why it is being suggested.
• Gather resources – information, research, articles, etc.
• Talk about the issues that you know could arise – explain the problem(s) you’re trying to address.
• Help leadership understand homeschooling, particularly if this was not something with which they were familiar on the field.

Role on on-field education consultants

Most believe that on-the-field consultants should focus on their relationship with families and should not be called into issues of reporting and accountability. One panelist added that if he ever needed experts to step into a situation, he made it clear that they were doing so at his request. Another panelist recommends that the role of the consultant be well-defined so that everyone is on the same page and a good relationship can be forged between the consultant and families.

Families of children with special needs

Most panelists agreed that families are not, or should not, be placed where their children cannot be supported educationally. Two of the panelists said that their intake process was legally unable to ask whether or not any children had any special needs. However, both stated that any issues generally came out in interviews and conversation during training.

The organizations of two panelists require some type of educational evaluation during the pre-field training process. One uses the Search and Teach scan (NILD), which allows detection of struggles in young children. This allows education consultants and placement decisions to include any special needs and supports needed on the field.

Resources shared by panelists and participants

• http://www.iched.org is a great resource for articles and information, as well as lists of schooling options by country.

• Educare is published 4 times a year (January, March, June, September) and covers a wide range of third culture issues from preparation of children for cross-cultural living to re-entry to the passport country, boarding to home schooling and much more. It is available free of charge on request from Eurotck.net. To access previous issues of Educare – http://eurotck.net/2-uncategorised/6-educare.html

• There are resources on the SHARE website www.shareeducation.org for a nominal membership.

• http://childsafetyprotectionnetwork.org/ is a resource for those involved in child safety policy.

Many thanks to our panelists and participants!

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