Membership Standards
These international education standards define what CIS expects of every member school, from ethical governance to whole-school safeguarding.
Socially Responsible Leadership
Your school models and develops socially responsible leadership in a way that reflects its values and context, fostering an inclusive and engaged community.
Whole-school Safeguarding
Your school ensures that policies and procedures support safeguarding, child protection, well-being, and safe learning environments, and these policies are communicated and implemented across the community.
Design for Learning
Your school designs and develops learning experiences that empower students as critical thinkers, global citizens, and active agents of their own education.
Ethical Stewardship and Governance
Your school's leadership, governance, and ownership systematically ensure ethical stewardship and accountability while fostering a culture of integrity and respect.
Guiding Principles
Your school defines, communicates, and ensures alignment between its mission, guiding principles, and the lived experiences of its community.
Reflective Questions during the membership process
After you submit your application and we confirm your eligibility, we will work with your school to explore how you apply the CIS Membership Standards in your day to day practice. We will ask a set of reflective questions to help your school consider how its culture, decision-making, and operations align with the standards and principles of CIS membership.
These questions encourage your school to think about how your mission is put into action, how leadership models ethical responsibility, how learning empowers students, and how you create a safe and inclusive school community.
After responding to each question, you will be asked to reflect on your school’s development by selecting the stage that best represents your current journey:
Developing: Your school has identified an area for growth and is actively working toward improvement.
Established: Your school has met its main goals and has consistent practices in place, while continuing to refine and improve.
Embedded: Your school’s approach is deeply integrated into daily practice, with values and actions clearly reflected across the whole community.
Your choices will not be used for benchmarking against the membership standards. Instead, they offer your school an opportunity to share its own perspective on its development journey. This helps us better understand your goals and provide more relevant feedback or recommendations.
About the Code of Ethics
The purpose of the CIS Code of Ethics is to describe the moral principles upon which CIS members are expected to base their conduct and professional practice.
Read the CIS Code of Ethics.