School groups now run nearly two in five of the world's international schools

School groups now run 5,928 of the world's 15,464 international schools, a 38.3 per cent share, in figures ISC Research published on 22 October in its International Schools Groups Report 2026.

The number of groups has almost doubled in under a decade. ISC's 2017 data found 333 groups running 2,526 schools, then 23 per cent of the market. This year's report counts 656 groups, in a market that spans 146 countries.

Their share looks set to keep climbing. Groups own 54 per cent of the schools due to open in the coming years. Inspired Education holds the largest slice of that pipeline, at 3.4 per cent, followed by the UAE's Taaleem at 3 per cent.

Between them, groups teach almost 3.2 million pupils and employ nearly 295,000 teaching staff.

SEB, listed in the report as Groupo SEB, is the largest by number, with 507 schools. Most are in Brazil (238), India (97) and Singapore (60). Among the groups with a wider spread, International Schools Partnership and Nord Anglia Education run 106 schools each, Cognita 103 and Inspired 79. The groups' own counts can be higher. Inspired says it has 125 schools, and Tes reported the gap may come from how ISC decides what counts as an international school.

Families in our cities meet these groups often. In Singapore, Nord Anglia runs Dover Court International School, where the all-in yearly fee for the oldest pupils is S$51,171 in 2026/27, and Cognita runs Stamford American International School, at S$56,110. In Dubai, Nord Anglia International School Dubai charges AED 105,288 for its oldest year group, and Taaleem's Dubai British School Emirates Hills charges AED 79,541.

The buying goes on. Nord Anglia took over Mont'Kiara International School in Kuala Lumpur in August 2026. It became the group's second school in the city and, by the group's count, its 90th worldwide. The school's chairman, Tan Sri M.S. Tan, handed it over after more than 25 years as he moved towards retirement.

Ownership changes how a school is run, the report found. In one group in southern Europe, any purchase over €15,000 needs the chief financial officer's sign-off; another group sets the line at €25,000. Budgets follow a yearly cycle, and large spending outside it needs "stronger justification", which leaves heads with less freedom than standalone schools have had.

Malia Rowe, head of insights at ISC Research, said decisions on "finance, procurement, human resources and educational strategy are increasingly shaped within corporate frameworks".

Groups have stopped short of dictating technology. Most do not impose a pupil information or learning management system, and device policy usually stays with each school. Some have built AI tools of their own, such as Cognita AI and Inspired's Lesson Planner.

Falling birth rates in many countries are pushing groups to find pupils elsewhere, the report said, through more early years places and new AI-led curricula. British independent schools are building overseas chains too, with Brighton, Wellington and Dulwich all opening new sites. Brighton College plans a school in Osaka from 2028.

Rowe said the best prospects lay in "understanding where demand is sustainable, what families are looking for and what it takes to operate successfully in that particular market".