International schools offer a wide range of extracurricular activities, including sports, art, music, drama, debate clubs, STEM projects, and community service, as an integral part of school life.
When choosing an international school in Düsseldorf, parents should look at its school culture: the lived values, how teachers and students treat one another, how conflicts are resolved, and how openly the school communicates with families.
International schools in Germany almost always teach in English as the main language of instruction, add German as a required subject, and often offer a third foreign language from around grade 6.
Classes at private schools in Germany typically have 15 to 22 students, significantly fewer than the 25 to 30 students that are not uncommon at public schools.
Teachers at international schools often come from different countries, hold international qualifications, receive ongoing professional development, and specialize in teaching students from different cultures together.
An international school in Germany should have state recognition from its German state, IB World School authorization, Cambridge Examination Centre approval, Cognia accreditation, and Council of International Schools (CIS) membership.
The IB Diploma enjoys an increasingly good reputation among German employers, especially at international companies, global corporations, and academic institutions, even though it is still less common than the Abitur.
In Germany, the Abitur is the most demanding general school-leaving qualification, but the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, also available in Germany, sets the bar even higher and is one of the most demanding qualifications in the world.
There are currently around 79 schools in Germany authorized as International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools that offer the IB Diploma Programme, mostly in metropolitan areas.
Around 9 to 10 percent of all students in Germany attend a private school, more than 800,000 students, and the share has been growing steadily for years.
