Introduction - Australian Education for Expatriates

For expatriates with children, access to quality education is perhaps the family’s highest priority. Most parents are very focussed on ensuring that an expatriate assignment, or lifestyle, does not impact negatively upon their children’s education and prospects - whether in the host country or on return to Australia.

It is beyond the scope of Exfin to provide any advice on schooling overseas – the approach to be taken varies considerably on the expatriate’s host country, the duration of the assignment and a very wide range of factors, including your child’s personality and attributes.  Needless to say, if you have spent considerable time worrying over issues such as British vs. American schooling, the International Baccalaureate and the value of boarding schools, you are not alone. 

Over time it is our intention to deepen our coverage of educational issues in Exfin. At the moment there is a lack of information on almost all issues specific to expatriates and very little expert assistance available for parents trying to manage an effective (re) introduction of their children into Australian education.  Whilst other countries, notably the United Kingdom, have a number of private institutions which provide advice and assistance to parents in this situation, and when it comes to selecting boarding schools, Australia is very poorly served. At this time we are aware of only one organisation, focussed on Victoria, which provides advice on the selection and admission to private schools.

Within this website we focus on providing an overview of the Australian education system(s), some indication of the choices in education which are available, the costs and where you might obtain additional information. If any parent wishes particular research done, or enquiries made on their behalf, please contact us through the form on our Contact page and we will endeavour to arrange individual qualified and experienced advice.

If your starting point is to try and identify which schools are available in a particular State or area, please go to our section Choosing a School for details on identifying potential independent (non-government) schools and Education Resources for sites providing online access to Government school directories and other general information.