IPSEF Global 2026: Strategy, legal protection and new markets for the education sector

The rising demand for international private K-12 education

The next speaker was Ashwin Assomull, Partner and Head of L.E.K. Consulting’s Global Education Practice. His presentation Trends and Opportunities Shaping Global K-12 Education looked at what was driving demand for international private K-12 education, noting that demand from parents and a growing middle class population had significant impact.

Assomull’s presentation looked at new opportunities in European markets, how to reposition legacy schools to make them appealing and right for new markets, an examination of resilience and trends in the Middle East, and how to capitalise on opportunities in the United States.

He spoke about how a number of legacy school brands have established multiple international education campuses, including Harrow which has 12 campuses, Basis International (11), Repton (11), Brighton College (10) and Malvern College (9). He described how a number of premium school brands have already begun expanding into Europe’s high growth markets, including Brighton College, which is opening its first continental Europe campuses in Madrid, Rome and Lisbon in September 2027.  Another case study was Kings College School, Wimbledon, which has had a strategic partnership with the International School of Monaco since 2020.

He showed how legacy brand schools have successfully rebranded some of their assets or partner schools in order to capitalise on their international reputation. This included BCIS Vietnam rebranding to Sedbergh, and VERSO’s Bangkok campus planning to open in August 2026 under the Wycombe Abbey name. Kent Dubai was rebranded to Rugby School in 2025, while the Kindergarten Starters rebranded to GEMS Legacy School in 2021.

In the GCC in the Middle East, Assomull explained how private international K-12 was still very attractive to parents and investors, and that enrolments had been resilient even during periods of regional turmoil. Real estate prices had fallen somewhat, which meant that it was comparatively cheaper for new school developments and schools could take advantage of more favourable lease terms. Demand for premium education was likely to continue, thanks to demand from locals and middle income Arab and Asian expatriates, he said.

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming learning, teaching and school operations

Next Rob Wild, partner at L.E.K. Consulting, looked at AI’s impact on personalised learning, teacher productivity, assessment, wellbeing, curriculum design and school management. He also addressed what leaders must do to adopt the technology responsibly and at scale.

“What are we aiming to do with technology?” he asked. “It is about academic excellence, making teachers more effective, and planning for the future?”

He said that technology was not limited to a single application but could be used to enhance the learning experience for students, design and adapt the curriculum and content, improve the quality of teaching, provide invaluable updates on assessment, progress and the possible need for interventions to keep students on track, and helping schools to understand resource management. 

A wide range of opportunities to develop skills that help students get ready for the workplace

An armchair conversation with Mike Lambert, Global Education Director at Inspired Education Group, and Dr Helen Wright, International Education Advisor and Executive Coach, offered delegates insights from one of the sector’s leading international education organisations.

Mike Lambert addressed two key issues for schools which are both significant in how principals and investors plan for the future. These are the implications of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the importance of helping students be successful in the world of work by designing the curriculum to include pre-employment education. In the discussion, Lambert highlighted the measures that schools in the Inspired Education group were taking to ensure that students had skills that were appropriate and valued in the workplace. He discussed how in order for skills like teamwork to be valuable and transferable, they needed to be grounded in the demands of the real world, not just in school. 

“When we think about those great character opportunities that we are offering in our schools, for example taking part in sports teams, we might think that teams give us the natural teamwork collaboration that we need,” he said. “But actually, collaboration around the boardroom is different and quite specific and just because you made it to the First 11 team doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the right skills.”

In order to replicate pre-employment collaboration in school, and deliver on objectives across schools internationally, Lambert described how some schools therefore now have mock courtrooms and a judge in a panelled room to recreate the intensity and skills of a debate. 

“Instead of having teachers, we have advocates teaching this, and as a result we have got children aged of 14 upwards learning about talking contract law,” he said.

Lambert also talked about what creativity really meant in the workplace, and what employers were looking for in young people.

“The big trend that we have noticed this year is that there has been a 15 to 29 per cent reduction in graduate placements from the Big Four accountancy firms,” he said. “We have also seen a 49 per cent reduction in graduate placements in the UK this year. I think that this is partly because of the economy but also because of the issue of transferable skills. So the question is, how can we get students in our schools ready for the workforce so they are on the front foot? Creativity in the workplace is very different from creativity in school.”

Later in the conversation, Lambert introduced the concept of AI and technology potentially being imbedded within teaching and learning at some schools. Citing the new Inspired Edge AI schools, which are opening in London in 2027, followed by Milan, Madrid, Lisbon, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Auckland in New Zealand. Based on the concept of personalised and accelerated learning, the schools use adaptive AI technology to provide real-time insights into each child’s progress, allowing gaps to be identified early. While in the morning students will work using enhanced AI features, in the afternoons, the curriculum is dedicated to real-world skills, creative pursuits and applied learning.

“In September 2027 we are actually launching a new school called the Inspired Edge Academy in Olympia in London,” he said. “The mornings are based around adaptive learning platforms to students. We are deconstructing the three clocks that typically exist together in schools: the chronological clock (age related learning) the curriculum clock (eg what you study for Year 3 maths) and the qualification clock (when you sit exams to earn credentials).  We are at a unique point in history where learning platforms are allowing us to say there is no need for children to move in lockstep to anymore.”

Instead, students can progress in their own way and this can mean that talented students are able to access more advanced material to extend their learning. In the afternoons, students follow interdisciplinary projects based around a six week entrepreneurial script. 

“Even for seven year olds, we ideate in week one, and then in week two they prototype, test, iterate and then produce the work over six weeks,” he said.

However, while this is a bold and innovative move, it is not being replicated across all schools. For example, Lambert described how some sectors of the market are keen to reduce rather screen time rather than incorporate technology into the curriculum.

“We have got to be careful not to patronise parents who have a clear view about how they want their children to grow up,” he said. “For example in Madrid, screen time is completely banned in early years and in primary it is limited to one hour a week. What we want to do is lead the conversation, expose people to what the trends are and where we’re going, but we are not going to say this is what you must do.

What next for the Middle East?

Next the discussion turned to the Middle East and Saudi Arabia a panel chaired by Ross Barfoot, partner at Dentons. The session explored the latest developments across Bahrain, Dubai, Jordan, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, a region that continues to attract significant attention from school brands, investors and operators but which has had recent challenges with the disruption in the Gulf.

The panellists were Mandy Edmond, Vice Principal, Head of Enterprise and Strategic Partnerships at Norland, Shahram Hashemi, Managing Partner, Aldenham Education Group (AEG), Mike Lambert, Global Education Director of Inspired Education Group, Alejandro Delso Segovia, Head of Strategy & Development, SEK Education Group, and Dave Taylor, Chief Operating Officer of Artemis Education.

The panel discussed the challenges and opportunities in the region in the light of the recent upheaval. Shahram Hashemi of Aldenham said that the recent uncertainty had been “just a bump in the road” and that Dubai and Abu Dhabi were “back on track”.  In terms of market opportunity, Alejandro Delso Segovia of SEK said “the USE is already saturated but it never stops growing”.

Mike Lambert of Inspired Education said the group was “actively exploring opportunities in Saudi Arabia” and that there were now opportunities in Morocco, where education had previously been in French but the country was now “moving to English as a language of instruction and in schools”. He added that Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan had opportunities and that a small number of families in the Middle East had chosen to relocate elsewhere, up from 33 last year to 150 this year.

Dave Taylor of Artemis said the group was “committed to a school opening in 2027 in Oman” and that Qatar had done well and the group was keen to expand into Europe. 

Hybrid Models  – a solution for staffing issues and minority subjects

Mark Steed, Founder of Steed Education, then addressed in his session whether schools should be building hybrid provision into their operating models. He looked at the rise of remote and hybrid teaching and the drivers likely to make hybrid leaning an increasingly important component of secondary schooling.

He acknowledged that using hybrid was not “premium education” but “premium economy” and that “It is a slightly cheaper version, but it still gets there all the same.” He defined hybrid in three ways – a component of face-to-face teaching, a component of remote teaching and a component of independent learning. 

“How you mix those three bits together varies enormously,” he says, acknowledging the misconception that hybrid learning meant students were not physically in school.

“It is totally possible to have a model of hybrid learning where the students are in school five days a week and that there is still some of the teaching is done face-to-face, some of the teaching is done remotely and some of the teaching is done independently,” he said.

Defining school as having the three roles of childcare, socialisation and transmitting knowledge and understanding, he said that was what had shaped schools so far.

“The dominant model that you are all familiar with is that we design schools around face-to-face teaching,” he said. “The thing I find particularly exciting going forward is that we can design schools around socialisation.”

He said that there were four significant drivers of change:

• Traditional schools are not working, and we see this with the rise of the online schools. If you look at the online schools, they are dealing with the margins, with non-attendance and neurodiverse students, mental health crisis, and a handful of elite sports men and women.
• Changing working patterns in society: Working from home, part-time working and flexible working are significant trends. 
• Cost for parents and governments: If you can deliver a high quality education at $12,000 US, there is an aspirational middle class around the world in the order of millions who can afford that price point. So the question is can you deliver that? 
• Technological developments: massive developments in personalised learning mean that technology can be adapted to suit the learning progress of the individual student and at their pace.

“Remote teaching has gone through an unbelievable revolution in the past five years as the online schools have developed and competed with each other and upskilled,” he said. “We are part of a conversation that are going on and has really interesting technical questions such as how many children can you teach in an online classroom and what does this mean for the working practices of teachers? We still have a massive problem in this country with nearly 28 per cent of physics lessons being delivered by people who are not physics trained but upskilled from other departments. Which is preferable, being taught physics online by a physics graduate, or taught in person by an upskilled biology or PE teacher?”

He said it was a trend that was growing across the world and cited the University of Derby which has just started to offer the first UK PGCE in Online Teaching, and discussed how hybrid learning could open up new and exciting markets for schools and education groups.

“The markets are everywhere. The market is just at a price point that you are not happy with the profit margin on where you’re sitting at the moment,” he said. “There are massive cities in the world that can afford a $12,000 US education, including Cairo, Jakarta, Manila and parts of India and the technology is there to make it happen.”

For further coverage of IPSEF Global  2026 read our digital Guide to International Education & Schools 2025/26.