Six years ago, as the pandemic took hold, online learning was rapidly implemented as a short-term solution to an unprecedented crisis.

Schools adapted quickly, and students logged in from wherever they could. At the time, few imagined that these approaches would endure and, after the pandemic, many were happy at the thought of never teaching or learning like that again.

Yet by 2026 there is a growing movement of parents choosing online learning as the best-fit option for their children, especially for those for whom “traditional” schooling has proved unworkable.

Growing demand

Meanwhile, many international schools are embracing hybrid models of learning that incorporate online teaching as a strategic, future-looking decision to help broaden their offering to parents.

For example, recent COBIS research shows 7 per cent of respondents saying they use online/remote teaching from external providers and 8 per cent saying they use it from individual teachers to meet recruitment needs.

What is perhaps more notable, though, is that 26 per cent would consider using online/remote teaching from individual teachers and 30 per cent would consider using it from external providers. Clearly there is a growing interest in this type of teaching role to fill curriculum demand.

The 2025 Teacher Labour Market report by the National Foundation for Educational Research highlights why this demand is growing, noting that the number of unfilled teaching vacancies has doubled since the pandemic.

This is not a temporary imbalance; it reflects deeper questions about workload sustainability and the design of modern teaching roles.

We see this, too, at Minerva Virtual Academy (MVA and MVA Hybrid). We publish approximately 60 job adverts annually to support our expansion, but the standout metric is the appetite for these roles: in the past year alone, we saw a 21.6 per cent increase in applications per vacancy.

The benefits

Clearly, then, many experienced educators are willing to work this way - perhaps unsurprisingly. After all, an online role offers balance, flexibility and simplicity (you don’t have to move overseas for one) that a traditional role cannot so easily provide.

This shift has direct implications for retention, too. While the wider sector sees a national average retention rate of 90.3 per cent, MVA’s teacher retention for 2024-25 stands at 99 per cent.

Crucially, this is not about online schools replacing physical ones; the shift is towards collaboration. Hybrid models allow schools to respond to specific needs without compromising their identity.

This supports student retention, attracts new families and enriches the overall offer by allowing schools to introduce niche subjects, secure expertise in hard-to-recruit areas or launch new key stages without the overhead of a full physical faculty.

Beyond the classroom, online and hybrid models are also reshaping enrichment. Virtual schools are increasingly able to offer a broad and flexible programme of extracurricular activities, from academic clubs and subject societies to wellbeing, creativity and student leadership groups.

Freed from timetable constraints and physical space limitations, teachers can lead extracurricular activities that reflect their passions and expertise, while students can access clubs that might otherwise be unavailable in smaller or more specialist schools.

For families, this means enrichment is no longer dependent on geography; for teachers, it offers a meaningful way to build community and relationships without extending the traditional school day to unsustainable lengths.

A new era

Six years on from the pandemic, it is time to move beyond the language of disruption. Online and hybrid education are now defined by intention.

As international education expands, schools face a choice: compete for a shrinking pool of teachers using traditional models or rethink how expertise is shared across borders.

Hybrid teaching offers a practical, collaborative way forward. The challenge now is for leaders to engage with these models deliberately, investing in partnerships that support teachers and widen opportunities for students.

Ultimately, the future of international education will be shaped not by where teaching happens, but by how sustainably we make it work.

Suzanne Lindley is principal of Minerva Virtual Academy

For essential weekly intelligence on the international schools sector, sign up for the Tes International newsletter