Council of International Schools Leaders Workshop

Well, went to the 8th edition accreditation manual workshop to update my understanding.
CIS Accreditation

 CIS Powerpoint presentation

Adelaide HS will be undergoing a Preparatory visit sometime mid-next year and then we will complete our Self-Study ready for the Accreditation Team Visit in 2015.  For me the key points have been that:

• the school must have a coherent definition of internationalism across the school and it must be integrated into how the school operationalises the accreditation standards. The intersection of the school organisation and operations with its definition of internationalism is what produces the ethos of the school: it is this ethos, permeating all areas of the school and its culture that creates an international school for its students and community.
• the accreditation standards are not a checklist and the explanatory material produced by school committees should pick up intangibles such as culture, interculturality, interpersonalisation and intrapersonalisation. These must be evident to the Visiting Team.
• Global citizenship is a cornerstone of the educational Vision and Mission and Objectives (VMO) and should be clearly evident and inherent in the curriculum. In the VMO it is not a "given" but must present as a challenge to drive the innovation and improvement processes in the school. This then gives something for the school to aspire to and gives its members something to aspire to. The VMO must be very clear and the globalist outlook consistently embedded.
• Teaching and learning are the core business of the school across three linked areas of values(embedded in VMO), student learning and well being and a collective view of internationalism. The evidence of effectiveness will be developed through the data associated with longitudinal assessment and tracking, along with a process of using data to target improvement for each student AND in the evidence that can be extracted from evaluation of the attainment of graduate qualities.

So, we will need to review our definition and use of internationalism, evaluate the way we collect and use data and examine the intangibles across the school. Staff teams will need to commence this process in learning areas and leadership groups over the next term and into 2014.

Education is about developing the humanity of our learners