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Making kids a relocation priority

According to the survey 60 percent of expatriates bring their children.
According to the survey 60 percent of expatriates bring their children.

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(CNN) -- Traveling overseas for business is one thing, relocating overseas for work is another matter.

If you are moving abroad, one of the biggest concerns is your family, especially children and their education.

"More corporations are realizing it is too expensive to have a corporate assignment fail because of their children's education needs," Kathleen Cocklin from education consultants Childtrack told CNN.

Firms have taken note since the Global Relocation Trend Survey report in 2001 found that 40 percent of overseas postings fail mainly because of family concerns.

Yet making the move overseas a success for you and your children is all about planning, experts say.

"It is wonderful when families move happily, usually they are the ones that have done the most preparation," says Cocklin.

"Two days should be spent actually in the classroom (overseas). It does not take more than a week to do your survey trip, if you have done your homework beforehand."

The biggest question is whether children should follow the system back home, join an international school, enroll in a local one or sign up for distance-learning from home.

The expert's advice is know your child and their needs and make sure the transition to the next destination is as smooth as possible.

"If you keep track of your children then you have an idea of their learning pattern," says Cocklin.

"You can go ahead to the next school and say 'this is how the last experience has been' and connect the new teacher with the old teacher via e-mail."

Cocklin also advises familes to think about the long term strategy, since promotion or moving to a different company can shift the family back home or to a new destination -- each with its unique schooling system and set of problems.

When children move, not all fit in. They may be behind in class or find the social change difficult, leading to a loss in confidence that affects the child's learning and happiness, believes Cocklin.

Families should focus on the positive points they have learned from being overseas, she says.

"The strengths would be -- rock solid geography; a knowledge of another country, learning about different food and ways of living," she explains.

"On return your children are going to be ahead of the others that have never been anywhere and never intended to travel overseas."

-- CNN's Meara Erdozain contributed to this report


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