Within hours of the Russian Federation effectively banning the International Baccalaureate by declaring the IBO an “undesirable organisation”, international schools in the country started to respond by taking down their websites so they could, as one school put it, “bring their content into compliance with Russian legislation”.

International schools - which are found in most countries around the globe - are used to rolling with the punches, responding to local edicts that have wide-ranging implications and can be issued with little or no warning. The decision in the United Arab Emirates to move to a 4.5-day working week the day before the end of term in December 2021 is a case in point.

Arguably, however, as the world becomes more complex, so do the challenges that international school leaders face.

“The global order has been shaken tremendously,” warns the latest Strategic Foresight Report from the European Commission, published earlier this week.

It highlights “threats to democracy” and “widening inequalities”, as well as the migration crisis, the impact of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and unrest in the Middle East - the latest manifestation of which (at the time of writing) was Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital city, Doha.

The report says: “We are witnessing the erosion of the rules-based international order and fracturing of the global landscape.”

Russia outlaws the IB

In Russia, the drive to silence independent voices spans decades - the Undesirable Organisations Law that the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) fell foul of dates back to 2015.

But this crackdown is gathering pace because Russia is now “in the mode of wartime censorship”, says Dr Donatas Kupčiūnas, a diplomatic historian interested in East-West European relations, based at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Geopolitics.

He says “anything that is even remotely critical of the war, Putin or Russia in general” could get the 62 international schools that remain in the country, according to ISC Research data, into trouble. They have to decide “if they oblige or get out,” Kupčiūnas says.

So, what does the IBO stand accused of by the Russian Federation?

In a statement from the prosecutor general’s office on 25 August, the IBO was charged with trying to “format Russian youth according to Western templates” and imposing its “own vision of historical processes, distorting well-known facts, anti-Russian propaganda, and inciting ethnic hatred”.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the statement said, the IBO had adapted its teachings to be explicitly anti-Russian, including “calls for the international isolation of our country and materials discrediting Russian army”.

The IBO was also accused of popularising “non-traditional values”, which Kupčiūnas says “most likely refers to anything LGBTQ-related”.

The Russian anti-LGBT law has been in force since 2013, he says, and “prohibits ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships’ or anything that normalises these relationships”.

“There is a trend towards increased enforcement, particularly in the context of patriotic upheaval as a result of the war in Ukraine,” Kupčiūnas says.

The IBO was accused by Russia of taking “the Russophobic position of the collective West” when it came to the invasion of Ukraine. Kupčiūnas says even though Russia is still not officially at war with Ukraine, and continues to designate its military activities as a “special military operation”, unofficially it is at war and “as with every war, the propaganda war is of utmost importance”.

Kupčiūnas says: “I am not familiar with how these schools taught the Russo-Ukrainian war, but I am not surprised if any deviation from the official Russian narrative is punished. It is also possible that patriotic activists reported one or more of these schools to the authorities.”

Just ‘a Russia situation’?

For its part, the IBO - which lists 29 schools in Russia as delivering its courses - has insisted that it is not affiliated with any political body and that it successfully works with “over 6,000 schools, including many in regions facing conflict, political instability or shifting education policies”. It said that the IB model has “proven adaptable and effective across diverse environments”.

It has, however, been reluctant to say more, presumably concerned that other countries could follow Russia’s lead.

Some international school leaders who spoke to Tes saw no wider threat - the ban was just “Russia being Russia”, said one.

Another echoed this, describing the IBO being blacklisted as “a Russia situation”.

Indeed, they noted that the IB was in a period of growth and that in a boom market for international schools, such as India, it was “hugely valued” because families saw it as a way into international universities.

In January 2025, 5,451 international schools worldwide offered IBO programmes, according to ISC Research data, making its frameworks the most popular in the international schools sector.

China takes the long view

In China, meanwhile, David Mansfield, an international school leader who works in country, sees little chance of an outright IB ban there.

He acknowledges that there is “not a completely free curriculum in China” and that “views different to the official position, especially on historical questions, are not to be taught” - but he argues that the Chinese approach is “much more measured and subtle, and will always take the long view”.

He says: “One senses the IB will not be banned wholesale in China but the impact of its avowedly liberal ideology will be limited and its pedagogical strengths incorporated.

“China is very good at assimilating. It does it over time and rarely uses crude short-term stratagems.”

Nevertheless, Mansfield says, when the news of the IBO being blacklisted in Russia broke, it “sent shockwaves through the educational world”.

The fear, he says, is that it could be “the thin end of the wedge” in a world heading away from “the post-Second World War consensus of liberal international-mindedness” and increasingly towards “populism and right-wing autocracy”.

What is certain is that the ban has come at a time when the growing schism between the East and West is becoming increasingly visible, with over 20 leaders - including the state heads of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and India - meeting in Beijing this month in what was widely seen as push back against a US-led world order.

Kupčiūnas believes “only normalisation of East-West relations” can offer international schools in some countries “a hope for normal operation”.

He says: “Both Russia and China can now afford to upset the West, much more than they could in the 1990s. This means that international schools do not enjoy the diplomatic protection that they had a few decades ago. The longer the confrontation continues, the worse these prospects will become.”

Schools in the firing line

Another international school leader with experience of running schools in China, who does not wish to be named, agrees that “greater polarity” in world politics “is unlikely to be good news for international programmes that are built around global values and open-mindedness”.

He says that “authoritarian regimes have been increasingly influencing curricula and school operations in recent years”.

China, for instance, might not be set to follow Russia’s lead in banning the IB, but it has banned overseas names in school titles and introduced rules that mean schools following international curricula have had to completely readjust their approach.

The school leader adds that: “Up until now, traditional international schools have been largely left alone. Where the Russia news is causing concern is that a blanket ban on IB (or any Western-developed programme) is a sweeping diktat that affects all categories of schools.”

Part of the issue is that the pupils being educated in international schools have changed in recent years.

‘International schools do not enjoy the diplomatic protection that they had a few decades ago’

A decade ago, international schools mostly served expatriate families with English-speaking backgrounds. Now a growing proportion of the student body is made up of locals - sometimes over 70 per cent of total enrolment.

The school leader says that “governments are watching more closely” because of this, adding: “The other thing to remember is that we are not only teaching more ‘local’ children but these are often many of the wealthiest and most politically connected families.”

This can affect schools in other ways, too, with an international IB school in Nepal recently being attacked during demonstrations due to perceptions of privilege and ties with the ruling elite.

In response to the incident, a spokesperson for the IB said the organisation was “deeply concerned by reports of a fire at Ullens School in Khumaltar”.

“We are in close contact with the school’s leadership to understand the situation and offer support,” they added. “Our thoughts are with students, teachers and staff at this difficult time. Our immediate priority is the safety and wellbeing of the school community and continuity of learning.”

Changes everywhere

Even in the US, usually at the vanguard of the liberal Western world order, there have been growing concerns around the clear shift against diversity, equality and inclusion practices since the new US administration took office - and what this means for international schools.

“These changes are being implemented at pace and with a scope many did not expect, causing uncertainty and worry,” wrote Council of International Schools executive director Jane Larsson.

Meanwhile, at the Council of British International Schools conference in May, representatives from numerous international schools, including in Europe and the US, voiced their fears that the values that many schools adhere to - including free speech, global citizenship and internationalism - are increasingly coming under threat, and they may face pressure to close down debate and discussion.

None of these challenges are necessarily new for international school leaders, many of whom are well-used to walking the tightrope of providing a rounded, quality education at the same time as navigating the cultural norms, rules and requirements of their host country.

In fact, it is exactly this requirement that can make the job of an international school leader so rewarding, says Jonathan Warner, a leader currently based in The Gambia who has worked in countries around the world. He says one thing he loves about working in international schools is the constructive relationships that it is possible to establish with governments, which can lead to “change without excessive delay”.

One of the most “significant” moments of his career was seeing a policy that he introduced in his school in Kazakhstan becoming law, “improving the welfare of children across the country”. “Children get one chance at their education, and we owe it to them to remain nimble and flexible,” Warner says.

It seems clear that the need for international school leaders to steer a course through choppy political waters will be increasingly tested - including in parts of the world where previously they might have expected smooth sailing.

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