Shaping the future of international education

Resources

Helpful resources from CIS, the taskforce and other organizations.

Child Protection & Safeguarding

  • International Taskforce for Child Protection (ITFCP) Standards.
     
  • International Protocol for international schools 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 organisations around the world. While it is 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 the ITFCP and the Safeguarding Unit’s combined response to this. This article from the ITFCP and CIS colleagues 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.
     
  • 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.
     
  • Safer Recruitment Standards.
  • Criminal background checks procedure.
  • Assessment of International Schools and national child protection systems filling in the gaps when effective practices are not in place.
  • 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. Our workshop provides essential information and guidance. 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)

Pandemic-specific mental health & well-being support

(see also Online safety and virtual learning above)

  • Doug Walker, Child Psychologist and CIS Affiliated Consultant, shared these pandemic resources from the US National Child Traumatic Stress Network to support you as you work to support your own community.
  • For schools whose campuses are starting to reopen, read this article by Mary Meredith, which looks at how schools can help students heal.
  • Coram Life Education’s free online toolkit for primary school teachers, supports pupils’ mental health as they adjust to a new school environment post-lockdown.
  • Planning for a sustainable future guidance outlines how universities can make mental health a university-wide priority in the context of Covid-19.
  • The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families has published this advice for schools on how to help children manage their mental health and well-being during times of disruption to their learning.
  • Tips and tools for conversations about mental health struggles in a time of social distancing.
  • Resources for offering help to a friend or loved one who is having a bad day.
  • Ellen Mahoney reflects on the mental health of educators during times of uncertainty and provides suggestions and resources to help address feelings of powerless or ill-equipped or hopeless. Read more and find her educator well-being handbook.
  • The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust has prepared this guide for line managers on protecting and supporting your staff’s mental health.
  • School and university leaders are facing unprecedented and profound challenges. Guiding an organization through a global pandemic while also attending to personal circumstances requires extraordinary effort—key amongst these are efforts to protect the mental health and well-being of their communities. Read these key considerations and download an in-depth article, written in collaboration with mental health and well-being experts.
  • This short animation from Anna Freud offers a simple principle for staff to remember when supporting students’ mental health; CARE: (Curious, Approachable, Refer, Empathy).

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-racism, and diversity and how these may also have an impact on peer-on-peer abuse. We hope that the information and links to resources will help to support you in your roles as you work to protect students.

Protecting your own well-being 

  • 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.