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Many international schools have become more intentional about onboarding in recent years, with greater awareness around wellbeing, and transition support. At the same time, some schools still treat it largely as an administrative process focused on paperwork, and compliance rather than supporting families through a major life transition.

Many international schools have become significantly better at onboarding over the last decade, investing more time and energy into helping new hires settle into countries, systems, and communities. That’s a positive shift. But while onboarding has become more professionalised, offboarding is often inconsistent, rushed, or poorly designed.

The end-of-year season in an international school is a unique psychological phenomenon. While colleagues in "stationary" domestic systems might be looking forward to a summer of rest, the international educator often finds themselves in a state of profound liminality, the "in-between." You are physically present in one country, yet your digital footprint, your logistics, and your heart are already halfway across the globe. It is a period defined by a foot in two worlds, and