Shaping the future of international education

Resources

Helpful resources from CIS, the taskforce and other organizations.

*New* CIS International Safeguarding Toolkit

New offering! The CIS International Safeguarding Toolkit is an online developmental tool to help CIS member schools monitor current practices, understand opportunities for development and growth, track progress, and create a common understanding with school communities on how a school safeguards the students in their care. The toolkit will support a school at any stage of development to improve and manage safeguarding in a school.

Schools will use this toolkit to:

  • Identify areas of strength and areas for development. The toolkit content applies to schools in any legal or cultural context, and indicators will point out where schools need to confer with in-country laws.
  • Explore resources available exclusively within the toolkit for guided learning within your school.
  • Create reviews for each element for communications and reporting within the school community.
  • Prepare information and evidence for any accreditation process.

CIS members can find more information about the toolkit in the CIS Community portal for schools.

Child Protection & Safeguarding

  • International Taskforce for Child Protection (ITFCP)
    • The ITFCP Safeguarding Governance Briefing 2025 provides practical guidance as to how School Boards and Owners can provide strategic oversight of child protection and safeguarding in the schools they govern, without becoming involved in operational matters. The accompanying ITFCP Safeguarding Governance Resource Pack 2025 includes tools for schools to facilitate the implementation of this guidance.
    • Safer Recruitment Checklist (2024)
    • International Protocol (2024) for international schools (2024) to manage allegations of child abuse by educators and other adults. Abuse of children by adults in positions of trust is a significant risk facing schools and other organizations worldwide. While it’s possible to manage allegations effectively, the reality on the ground is that many allegations are being, and have been, handled poorly by schools, sometimes with little or no support from external agencies. The result is that some abusers have been able to move on without challenge. This protocol is a combined response by the ITFCP and the Safeguarding Unit’s to this issue. This article (pdf) from the ITFCP and CIS introduces the protocol, sets out some of the challenges faced by international school leaders and how schools can use the protocol to manage allegations effectively.
    • Standards
    • Expectations for School Communities have been strengthened* to highlight leading safeguarding and child protection practices.
       
  • Student Voice: Data, Guidance and Resources: This report focuses on the importance of student voice in the development of safeguarding and child protection practices. This report is accompanied by guidance, survey tools and resources for school use as they consider how to seek and incorporate student voice in their safeguarding programs and practices.
  • How to prevent and respond to child abuse, neglect, and sexual exploitation—The International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP) and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) joined forces to provide resources via the ICMEC Educator Portal on how to prevent and respond to child abuse for educators worldwide. Find resources and guidance on all child protection topics including writing and evaluating policies, developing safer recruitment practices, and educating staff, parents, and students on prevention and response to abuse when it does occur. Watch a video tour of the Education Portal to start your learning.

 

 

Criminal Background Check Procedures

CIS leads the way in promoting high standards of child protection through effective recruitment. We were the first organisation providing international educational recruitment services to require a full criminal background check history of our candidates, which is aligned with the recommendations of the ITFCP. Our schools are expressly committed to ensuring student well-being and safety and a crucial aspect of this is screening potential employees. We support our teachers with meeting this requirement by providing advice and resources. Our child protection workshops provide training to school leaders and counsellors that empower schools to build robust child safeguarding policies and effective reporting procedures.

We recommend you gather background checks from every country where you have worked. Use the below resources to learn how to request this information.

 

 

  • Safer Recruitment Standards.
  • Association of International Schools in Africa's Child Protection Handbook.
  • Safeguarding and Well-being guidance from legal firm Farrer & Co. who specialize in child abuse cases. It’s an overview of key considerations and guidance on risk assessments.
  • NSPCC Lone Working Guidance contains information about how to protect staff, faculty and young people involved in one-to-one sessions.

 

Data protection, cybersecurity & safeguarding

  • This is increasingly important in international schools due to new legal obligations worldwide relating to data protection and cybersecurity. Review these case studies and consider the possible scenarios within your school community to develop suitable policies.

Helplines and virtual counselling organisations

The following organizations offer virtual counselling:

Grief

  • Helpful tips for teachers and faculty on how to support bereaved students.
  • This resource provides advice on how to support students experiencing traumatic grief.
  • This is a free online support group for those experiencing grief.

Online safety & virtual learning

(see also Data protection and cybersecurity)

Peer-on-peer abuse

  • Peer-on-peer abuse toolkit by Farrer & Co. provides an overview of how schools can address peer-on-peer abuse.
  • This briefing provides guidance on how schools and universities can protect students from peer-on-peer abuse. The briefing is a more detailed, longer version of a blog and contain more guidance exclusively for our members. The information is based on a series of conversations with students since 2018 about different forms of peer-on-peer abuse provides the first-hand context and a strong foundation for the guidance in this blog and briefing. Find ways that schools and universities can prevent and respond to this form of harm, specifically looking at some of the challenges and strengths facing institutions that serve geographically mobile and culturally diverse student bodies. We’ve also been careful to reflect on the Coronavirus, anti-discrimination, and diversity and how these may also have an impact on peer-on-peer abuse.

Protecting your own well-being 

  • A blog about the impact of loneliness on rising rates of substance abuse
  • Advice from Dr Mitchell to help your staff and parents establish a routine and protect their well-being in isolation.
  •  This self-care resource has many simple activities which students can do at home. Staff, faculty, and parents might also find this self-care tool helpful.
  •  This webinar series from Harvard helps you to deal with daily stress, anxiety, and a range of other emotions.

Reporting

Research

  • Research and data about well-being (2020)—What are your graduating students' concerns and how can we help? The pandemic brought uncertainty, loss and hardship to many students graduating from secondary school this year. Part of our mission is to help you guide students as they transition from secondary school to higher education. Here are three ways that you and your colleagues can help them. Thanks to 130 school counsellors, we have a better idea of students' biggest concerns. Read the executive summary / full report.

Resources for students of all ages

Young Minds and Childline’s advice and resources for students on:

Student Minds’ guidance and links for students to:

  • Look after their mental health
  • Access guidance for ongoing mental health difficulties
  • Look after your health if self-isolating
  • Tackle xenophobia
  • Support friends & family

Suicide & self-harm: prevention and response 

University guidance and transitions for older students

Financial Aid 

Connecting with CIS universities 

  • CIS contact database for admissions personnel.
  • Our partners Concourse (now part of EAB) enable universities to receive detailed profiles of well-matched students and make admission offers based on their academic performance, interests, and financial needs—flipping the script on traditional admissions. Their reinvention of how this has historically worked creates a student-centric and equitable admissions process. Students create a simple profile outlining their personal and educational interests and qualifications. The profiles are certified by the students’ counsellors. Universities are presented with anonymized versions of the profiles that match their criteria and can make proactive offers of admission and scholarship. There is no cost to CIS member schools or students to use this service. If you have students ready to graduate who are still considering university offers or still investigating options, contact Concourse to learn how this service can help now. Learn more via the FAQs.

Student transitions & well-being

  • CIS 2020 survey on understanding student well-being needs.
  • Read this blog Student mental health & well-being: supporting students in transition from school to university.
  • Student Minds Know Before You Go toolkit.