On a preschool in Saigon, the word “international” is a description the school chooses for itself, not a legal category. It can mean a licensed foreign-invested school teaching a foreign programme, a Vietnamese private school using an imported curriculum, a school with foreign teachers, or simply a school that welcomes foreign families. All four exist in the city, and all four may use the same word.
The useful move is to translate the word into claims you can check. There are five common ones: the legal status of the school, the programme it teaches, the qualifications of its teachers, its classmates, and any accreditation or membership. Each can be verified with a document, a timetable or a conversation. This guide explains what each claim means, which documents back it, and how to read the answers without becoming suspicious of every school you visit.
Five things “international” can mean
A legal form. Some schools are foreign-invested or set up for the children of foreigners and operate under Decree 86/2018/ND-CP, the government decree on foreign cooperation and investment in education. This is the strongest meaning, because the foreign programme is part of what the school is licensed to do and the licence sets rules on enrolment and teaching.
A programme. Many schools teach a framework developed abroad, such as the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Cambridge’s early years programme, England’s Early Years Foundation Stage or Montessori. Some are formally authorised by the organisation behind the framework; others adapt its ideas. Both happen, and only the first can be checked with the framework owner.
Teachers. A school may describe itself as international because it employs foreign teachers. This tells you about accents in the room, not about training or how the day is organised.
Classmates. A school with many expat and mixed families feels international whatever its licence. That can be a real benefit, but it describes the community, not the education.
A marketing tone. Sometimes the word is about English signage, a polished website and a foreign-sounding name. That is not dishonest in itself, but it carries no information you can rely on.
The legal status: the one claim with paperwork
Every operating preschool in Vietnam has a decision establishing it or permitting it to operate, issued by the competent authority. For Vietnamese private preschools this is a local education authority; for foreign-invested schools the process runs under Decree 86/2018/ND-CP and involves the city’s education authorities. Since the reorganisation of local government on 1 July 2025, the names of districts and wards in Ho Chi Minh City have changed, so older documents may carry former district names. That is normal; what matters is that the decision exists and covers the campus you are visiting.
Ask the school, politely, which authority issued its operating decision, the date, and whether it covers this specific campus and age range. Schools that run several campuses sometimes license each one separately, and a new campus may still be finishing its paperwork. A school that is confident about its status will usually show you the decision or a copy in reception. If the answer is vague, that is not proof of a problem, but it is a reason to ask again in writing before paying a deposit.
The programme: authorised, licensed or inspired
When a school names a foreign framework, three different situations are possible. It may be formally authorised by the framework’s owner; the International Baccalaureate, for example, authorises schools to offer its programmes, including the Primary Years Programme which starts at age three, and lists authorised schools publicly. It may hold a licence or partnership that allows it to use a branded curriculum and materials. Or it may describe its teaching as inspired by a framework, which means it borrows ideas without any external check.
Inspired is not a bad word. Many good preschools take what they find useful from Montessori or Reggio Emilia without seeking formal recognition. The problem is only when inspired is presented as if it were authorised. Ask the school which of the three applies, and if it says authorised, ask which organisation and since when, so you can confirm it with that organisation’s own public list. For the Vietnamese side, ask how the national preschool programme fits into the week, because a school enrolling Vietnamese children is generally expected to cover it.
Accreditation and memberships
Accreditation means an outside body has reviewed the whole school against a set of standards. In international education, recognised accreditors include the Council of International Schools, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Many of them accredit whole schools from early years to secondary, so a standalone preschool is less likely to carry such accreditation. That is normal and not a mark against it. Montessori schools may have teachers trained through Association Montessori Internationale or the American Montessori Society, which is a teacher credential rather than a school accreditation.
Memberships are different again. Belonging to an association of international schools or a chamber of commerce shows the school participates in a community, not that it has been inspected. When you see a row of logos on a brochure, ask what each one means: accreditation, authorisation, a teacher training credential, a supplier of materials, or a membership. A careful school will be happy to explain, and the distinction helps you weigh each claim at its real value.
Documents and answers worth asking for
None of these requests is unusual, and a school that welcomes families from many countries is used to them. Ask for the ones that matter to your decision, and keep the answers in one place so you can compare schools.
- The operating decision for the campus, with the issuing authority and date.
- A short written description of the programme, naming any foreign framework and whether the school is authorised, licensed or inspired by it.
- A sample weekly plan for your child’s age group, showing where each language and each programme appears.
- The qualifications of the homeroom teacher and the foreign or bilingual teacher for that group, in general terms.
- The accreditation or authorisation the school holds, with the name of the body, so you can check its public list yourself.
- What your child receives at the end of the year: a progress report, a portfolio, a transcript, and in which languages.
- The fee schedule as published by the school, with what each fee covers, to be confirmed with admissions.
Asking for paperwork can feel awkward in a warm, welcoming reception area. It helps to say why: you are comparing schools carefully, you may move again, and you want records that will make sense to the next school. Most staff understand that immediately.
Why the same word covers such different schools
The spread of meanings has a simple cause. Ho Chi Minh City has a large and growing number of families who want English for their children, a smaller number of expat families who need English-medium schooling, and a much smaller number of schools licensed as foreign-invested. Between those groups sits a wide market of private schools that offer more English than a typical Vietnamese school and less than a fully English-medium one. Many of them reach for the word international because it is the most recognisable shorthand for “more English, more global outlook” that parents search for.
This means the word tends to tell you what the school hopes you will feel rather than what it is. For an expat family, the risk is assuming that an international label guarantees an English-medium day, foreign-trained early years teachers and a programme recognised abroad, when the school may be offering one or two of those things. For a Vietnamese family, the risk runs the other way: assuming the national programme is covered when the school mainly follows a foreign framework. Neither risk is solved by avoiding the word. It is solved by asking what the school means by it, in each of the five senses above, and writing down the answers.
Sorting the claims: a worked example
Imagine a school, invented for illustration, whose brochure says “international bilingual preschool, Montessori approach, native English teachers, globally recognised.” Sorted into the five meanings, that becomes four separate claims. Bilingual suggests a Vietnamese and English day, so you ask for the weekly hours with each language. Montessori approach suggests inspiration rather than authorisation, so you ask whether lead teachers hold a Montessori training credential and whether the classroom has the full set of prepared materials. Native English teachers describes nationality, so you ask about early childhood training. Globally recognised is the vaguest phrase, so you ask: recognised by whom, and for what?
In this imagined case the school might answer clearly on hours and teacher training, explain that Montessori is an inspiration for part of the morning, and admit that globally recognised refers to a curriculum supplier rather than an accreditor. None of those answers is disqualifying. You now know what you are actually choosing, which is a bilingual school with a partly Montessori morning and foreign teachers of known training. That is a description you can compare with other schools, which the original sentence was not.
Most schools in Saigon describe themselves as accurately as they can within a crowded market. A school that says it is bilingual and shows you a timetable with a co-teacher in the room most of the morning is giving you useful information, even if it also calls itself international on its gate. A school that says it follows a framework “in spirit” and explains how is being straightforward. The aim is to sort claims into those backed by documents, those backed by what you see, and those that are only words.
The second category is often the most important. No accreditation report will tell you whether the teacher kneels to talk to a crying child, whether children are allowed to choose activities, or whether the room smells of lunch cooked that morning. Use documents to check the claims documents can check, then use your visit for everything else. The word international becomes much less important once you know what sits behind it for the particular school in front of you.
How this site describes Global Star
Since this guide belongs to Global Star School, it is fair to apply the same test to the school. Global Star describes itself as a bilingual preschool system with roots in Grenada, running the Vietnamese national preschool programme alongside its own Global Nexus curriculum, with a Vietnamese homeroom teacher and a foreign or bilingual co-teacher in each class. In the terms used above, that is a bilingual model with a curriculum of its own, not a foreign-invested international school, and the school itself says it does not market itself as either international or local.
The same documents apply to it as to any other school: ask for the operating decision for the campus you visit, the weekly plan for your child’s age group, the teachers’ qualifications and the published fees, and confirm each with admissions. Detailed descriptions of the curriculum belong to the school’s curriculum site, and booking a visit is handled through its admissions site. This page is meant to help you compare fairly, not to tell you where to enrol.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
Is it illegal for a preschool in Vietnam to call itself international?
The word is generally used as a description rather than a protected title, so its presence alone does not tell you about legality. What matters legally is the school’s licence and what that licence allows it to teach and to whom. Ask for the operating decision and read the claim against it.
How can I confirm that a school is authorised to teach the IB Primary Years Programme?
The International Baccalaureate publishes a searchable list of authorised schools and candidate schools on its own website. Look the school up by name and city. If it is listed only as a candidate, it is still working through authorisation, which is a normal stage but not the same as being authorised.
Does an international preschool give my child a recognised certificate?
Preschool rarely ends with a certificate in the formal sense. What carries over is a progress report or portfolio, sometimes a record of the programme followed. Ask what you will receive, in which languages, and whether primary schools you are considering have accepted it from earlier families.
Are foreign-invested preschools allowed to enrol Vietnamese children?
Decree 86/2018/ND-CP sets the rules for foreign-invested schools, including conditions on enrolling Vietnamese pupils, and these rules have been amended over time. Rather than relying on a summary, ask the school how its own licence treats enrolment and check the current text of the decree if this affects your family.
Does an accreditation logo mean the preschool was inspected?
Only if the logo belongs to an accrediting body that reviews whole schools. Many logos on brochures represent memberships, teacher training credentials or curriculum suppliers. Ask the school what each one means and look the school up on the body’s own public list.