About International House - Our Mission

Who are we?

The International House World Organisation (IHWO) is a network of language schools worldwide that are committed to implementing high standards of quality and innovation in education and training. There are currently over 140 schools in more than 40 countries.

International House was founded in 1953 by John and Brita Haycraft, with the aim of providing an innovative approach to language teaching.

IH has remained at the forefront of development in the field of language teaching and in the training of language teachers.

What do we do?
· We teach English
· We teach Modern Languages
· We train teachers
· We train executives
· We write training materials
· We offer consultancy services

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Raising language education standards

Throughout International House’s network of schools around the world there is a unified commitment to the highest standards of education and a determination to raise the standards of language teaching.

Promoting international understanding
Through our language training activities we develop communication and understanding between people across the world. Learning a language develops the process of seeing the world from another perspective – a genuine route to international understanding.

Learning English
We are making a significant contribution to global communications by teaching English - today's international language - to over 50,000 people worldwide.

Learning other languages
Many International House schools teach a range of languages in addition to English. They offer a broad spectrum of courses tailored to the needs of both general and business clients.

Training materials
International House staff have been involved in the writing of numerous best-selling textbooks and have contributed to a wide range of publications in the field of language teaching.

Consultancy Services
By drawing upon our global exposure, the depth of our human resources and a wide range of professional expertise, International House is uniquely placed to provide consultancy services in teacher training, teacher recruitment, school management and the development of course materials.

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Mission Statement

"IHWO is the leading language solutions provider worldwide and its goal is to promote excellence in language education.

It supports a network of language schools to provide the highest quality of language learning and to promote innovation and standard setting in language teaching, learning and teacher training."

Find an IH World school

History of IH

John Haycraft

The IH World Team

Teacher Training

International House developed the first training courses for teachers of English and has continued to innovate both in pre-service training and teacher development. Globally, the language teachers that we train are acknowledged as amongst the most able, creative and authoritative within their profession. Our teacher training programmes are a hallmark of excellence and outstanding professionalism.

IH Teacher Training Centres have a special commitment to working with teachers whose first language is not English, creating career opportunities for teachers from different backgrounds and working to improve the quality of language teaching provision in the state system.