What is the GSGI Advisory Service?

Read what the Financial Times said about the GSGI advisors.... 

What is the GSGI Advisory Service?

A consultancy to advise parents, one-to-one, on choosing the best schooling for their children. Our editors know what's good, they know what's dodgy, and they even know if the hard truth is there are no good options for expats in that country.

Click here for Advice Request Form.

Each editor is a lively, helpful advisor who has been in your shoes many times. By email or phone before you move, or in person once you arrive, she (and sometimes he) is someone with plenty of up-to-date, informal experience on the best local schools and the inside scoop on them -  and even on questions ranging from housing to piano lessons, furniture to school shoes. In short, each editor is a sort of one-woman  (or man) coffee morning.

GSGI advisors can give advice on:

o       Specific local schools  

o       Education overview for a particular country

o       Cultural overview (expat survival)

o       Other questions about moving overseas

Say no more! How do I speak to one of these marvelous individuals?

Not so fast! What are the Advisory Rates?

Specifically, The Good Schools Guide International Advisors...  

• Offer a complete personal service
• Are knowledgeable and understand schools
• Can network with other editors or parents to get an accurate picture of a particular schools or schools.
• Provide a lifeline to a new country. 
• Have understanding ears to support anxious parents
• Can assist clients by putting them directly in touch with other parents or will speak to other parents from the school.
• Can offer advice on the pros and cons regarding your own child, in an objective and detailed manner.
• Have insight into the overall educational and expat picture of their host city and country
• Can act as a point of contact to approach the school to ascertain the availability of places and other information required by prospective parents, e.g. school reports.
• Can put together an informal profile of the parents and the children to match the pupil with the school, for example, locating a liberal school for the child who dislikes pressure.
• Can provide other educational support (via GSGI info network)

Who are these people?

Our editors* have spent their adult lives moving with the diplomatic corps or multi-national corporations, and come from a range of professions and backgrounds. Some have been professional educators, some have not. But all are ex-pats, all are parents, and all have had years of experience analyzing and dealing with their own children’s schooling across the globe.

...and how do they know what they know about schools?

Ears to the ground, GSGI editors talk to other parents and visit the schools themselves. 

They look at the usual suspects - test scores, buildings, exits (Other local schools? Top or only last-resort boarding schools back home? Good or not-so-good universities?), plus standards and comparisons with like school systems.

GSGI editors know the schools where they live, but they’ve also ferreted out the secrets of ex-pat survival there.  Because of this, and their infectious enthusiasm for this intrepid life, they are exactly the sympathetic, savvy advisors parents need for educational and even cultural advice about new postings or proposed relocations.

How do I engage an advisor?

Advice Request Form

Tell us what you need, and we'll tell you if can help. Fill out the Advice Request Form with as much information as you can, and submit it to us. (Or you can call us and we'll walk you through the form, subscription etc)

All information is treated in the strictest confidence. We act as agent for our advisors; if we have an advisor in that country, as soon as your details have cleared through the secure Netbanx section of this site, we'll put you directly in touch her so the two of you can agree about consultation by e- mail, telephone or in person at times that are convenient for both of you. If we don't have the right advisor, we may be able to suggest someone else who can meet your needs.

Our standard fee is £300 for GSGI subscribers (£335 for non-subscribers, which includes a one year GSGI subscription), for up to two hours of any combination of phone, email, and/or face-to-face, and £100 for each additional hour. Special arrangements can be made between you and your advisor for half or full day meetings (click here for Advisory Rates)

We will refund your fee if you are not entirely satisfied with the results, or even if - after a few minutes - we discover we can't help.

Please read the terms and conditions of their agreement with you; if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

*GSGI advisors act on their own account, and are not agents, employees or partners of the GSGI. The full terms and conditions of their agreement with you can be found here, and if you proceed to contact any of them having read this page you will be presumed to have read and agreed to this agreement.