These standards are based on four key principles:

1. Good policy – policies are fair, reasonable, transparent, well documented, bias-free, comprehensive.

2. Good practice – the implementation of policy is always fair, reasonable, timely, effective, supportive.

3. Good communication – it seeks always to be clear, complete, respectful, timely, relevant, effective, supportive.

4. Good care – employee confidence, satisfaction, and well-being are always held to be of prime importance.

A. The Recruitment Stage (up to the arrival in the country of the new employee):

The school’s policies and practices

• ensure all candidates are treated fairly and professionally and given appropriate information, guidance, and support

• ensure effective and timely communication with all candidates (whether successful or unsuccessful)

• are transparent, well documented and understood and consistently implemented by all school representatives

• inspire a sense of confidence and professional satisfaction in all candidates (whether successful or unsuccessful)

• are in line with current best practices on child protection in international school recruitment

• reflect a genuine commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) throughout the school community.

B. The Induction Stage (up to the employee’s early dealings with students):

The school’s policies and practices

• ensure a positive onboarding/orientation experience for all employees involved (new and old)

• ensure timely and effective communication with all new employees

• are transparent, well documented and understood and consistently implemented by school representatives

• inspire a sense of confidence and professional satisfaction among all employees involved (new and old)

• promote good cross-cultural understanding across a wide range of issues

• help all new employees to adapt successfully to the life and culture of the school and the local community

• help all new employees to carry out their professional duties in the school effectively

• guide all new employees on potential cultural dissonance and/or diversity challenges they may experience.

C. The Retention Stage (up to the final day of the employee’s final contract):

The school ensures that

• its governance, leadership, and management structure is clear, transparent, well-integrated, and well documented

• it has policies and procedures in place that in general ensure its financial health and economic viability

• all employees at every level of seniority are appropriately qualified for the roles to which they are assigned

• the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are respected and implemented throughout the school

• it fully honours all obligations of the contracts that as the employer it has entered into with employees

• all employees know how to seek support from the school regarding any job-related problem, concern or grievance

• all employees receive in a clear and timely manner all information related to any aspect of their duties

• any changes to an employee’s duties are made with full consideration of their personal and professional well-being

• the school’s working environment is at all times kept healthy, safe and secure

• the school caters effectively for all the professional needs of employees

• specifically, it offers fair evaluation of professional performance, and valuable professional development opportunities

• its policies and practices gain the confidence of employees and inspire a high level of professional satisfaction

• it supports leaving employees effectively, allowing smooth and trouble-free transfer to subsequent employment.

Introduction 

These standards, set by Search Associates for its member schools with regard to good employment principles and practices, are intended to be a guide for all school representatives, at every level of seniority, including school owners and/or Board members, all academic and non-academic school leaders, all managers and employees at every level of the school’s management or operational structure involved in establishing and implementing the school’s HR policies and practices. 

However, Search Associates expects that, within this broad group, it will be the school owners and/or Board members, working always in close collaboration with the Head of School, who will take overall responsibility for overseeing these standards and ensuring that the standards are being met.      Similarly, it will be the school owners and/or Board members, working always in close collaboration with the Head of School, who will take overall responsibility for ensuring that the recommended employment practices that reflect each standard are being understood and effectively implemented by all academic and non-academic school leaders and by the school’s HR managers and employees.      

(The general principles underlying these responsibilities are outlined in section C.1, sub-sections i, ii, iii, iv below). 

The purpose of this guide is to clarify the standards that Search Associates expects any member school to be meeting in each of the three distinct stages of the recruitment process, namely (A) the recruitment stage, (B) the onboarding/orientation stage and (C) the retention stage. These stages are described, and distinguished one from another, below.      

However, although these distinct stages represent a chronological sequence, the stages are not wholly separate, as there is in practice a great deal of overlap between each stage. For example, some important aspects of onboarding/orientation will begin during the recruitment stage, prior to the new employee’s arrival. To give another example, effective practices implemented during the onboarding/orientation stage will impact directly on the experience of employees in the retention stage. 

The document includes specific examples of the employment practices that a school will have adopted and will be implementing effectively if it is meeting the standards and consequently acting as a good employer. 

These standards will be used to help guide schools through the process of registering with Search Associates and will also help Search Associates to maintain quality assurance effectively among its registered member schools.

The duration of this stage in the employment cycle is considered to be between (1) the determination, description and earliest publication of the vacancy and (2) the acceptance of the employment offer. 

Standards: 

1. The school has established policies and practices relating to all aspects of the pre-arrival stage of the recruitment process, with a view to ensuring that candidates and employees are treated fairly and professionally and are given appropriate and effective support by the employer as they require throughout the recruitment process. 

2. The school has established clear channels and principles of good communication in order to deal effectively and in a timely manner with all employment-related matters during the recruitment period. 

3. The school’s recruitment policies and practices and its channels of communication are transparent, well documented, well understood and consistently implemented by all school representatives involved in the school’s recruitment process at every level of seniority in the school’s management structure. 

4. All school representatives involved in the school’s recruitment process gain the confidence of candidates (whether successful or unsuccessful) and future employees and inspire a high level of professional satisfaction among them. 

5. The school’s policies, as they relate to dependents, are made visible to the candidate. 

6. The school uses the recruitment process as an opportunity to introduce potential candidates to living and working conditions in the host country, including any challenges related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). 

7. The school is committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in all its forms throughout the school community and has therefore established clear and coherent DEI policies related to staff recruitment. 

8. The school makes visible to the candidate the established policies and procedures which are in line with current best practices related to child protection for international school recruitment. 

9. In line with current best practices for international recruitment, the school carries out all requisite background and reference checks, as well as follows all other recommendations made by the International Task Force for Child Protection (ITFCP) 

Meeting these standards will include the requirement of meeting the following specific expectations. 

1. Job announcements   

   1. No vacancy is ever announced before the current holder of the position, if any, has fully agreed with the school the terms of their departure from the position. 

   2. Every announcement of a vacancy includes full and accurate information about the responsibilities of the position and any specific skills, qualifications and experience that may be required. 

   3. Every announcement of a vacancy is entirely free of language which could be interpreted as discriminatory (see section A.5 below).

   4. Every announcement provides criteria for a candidate’s eligibility to work in the host country, based on government regulations. 

2. Employment contracts/Job offers  

   1. No job offer is ever made before the school has completed all the reference and other background checks (including criminal record checks) that it requires, and the results of those checks are satisfactory. 

   2. No job offer is ever made that is contingent on future reference checks.

   3. At the time a job offer is made, the school gives the candidate either a copy of the full contract, including full details of the salary scale and where on that scale the candidate would be placed, all benefits offered, any tax liability there may be, and a specific job description, or alternatively a sample contract accompanied by a letter confirming details of the salary scale and where on that scale the candidate would be placed, all benefits offered, any tax liability there may be, and a specific job description. 

   4. If a sample contract and accompanying letter are offered, the school gives the full contract to the candidate no later than 30 days following the offer.

   5. The actual or sample contract includes details of all the terms and conditions related to the school’s employment of the candidate.

   6. The school allows the candidate ample time to review the full contract and receive satisfactory answers from the school to any questions the candidate may have about it, before expecting the formal acceptance of the contract and the obligations it entails. 

   7. The school allows the candidate at least 72 hours to make a decision on any job offer, unless the offer is made at a recruitment fair, in which case the school allows the candidate at least 24 hours.

   8. All contract provisions related to dependents, including tuition and admission policies, will be made explicit in the job offer. 

3. Communications and preparations during recruitment 

   1. The school gives the future employee a clear explanation of any visa requirements and also whatever guidance and assistance the future employee may need in order to fulfil these requirements and obtain the necessary visa, including a clear and helpful check list of all the requirements.

   2. The school defines clearly which employment-related expenses incurred by the future employee in preparing for her/his future employment at the school will be reimbursed by the school, and then reimburses in a timely manner any such expenses. 

4. Child Safeguarding 

   1. The school follows the recommendations for recruitment and screening practices developed by the International Task Force on Child Protection (https://www.icmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ITFCP-Recommended-Recruitment-and-Screening-Practices-April-2017.pdf).

   2. Thorough background checks are carried out for all employees and volunteers to confirm their identity, previous employment history, criminal record and qualifications. 

5. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) 

   1. The school is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all of its forms throughout the school community.

   2. The school’s valuing of individual uniqueness and fostering of a culture of inclusion are reflected in its recruitment practices. Consequently, it does not favor any particular country (or set of countries), nationality, language group, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or age groups from which to draw its staff or students.

   3. The school has procedures in place whereby any issues relating to DEI are heard transparently and dealt with constructively.

   4. The school should ensure transparency about the host-country living conditions and potential cultural challenges before the candidate accepts the job offer. 

The duration of this stage in the employment cycle is considered to be the whole period between (1) when the candidate accepts the offer of employment and (2) six weeks after the arrival of the newly contracted employee in the country where the school is located. 

 Standards: 

1. The school has established policies and practices with a view to ensuring a positive onboarding/orientation experience for the new employee and her/his dependents. 

2. The school has established clear channels and principles of good communication in order to deal effectively and in a timely manner with all employment-related matters during the onboarding/orientation stage. 

3. The school’s channels of communication are transparent, well documented, well understood and consistently implemented by all those involved in the school’s onboarding/orientation process at every level of seniority in the school’s leadership and management structure. 

4. All school representatives involved in the school’s onboarding/orientation process gain the confidence of new employees and inspire a high level of professional satisfaction among them. 

5. The school has designed and implemented its onboarding/orientation process so as to promote good cross-cultural understanding and to provide the resources needed to be able to adapt successfully to the life and culture of the school and of the host country. 

6. The school has designed and implemented its onboarding/orientation process so as to provide the new employee with all the resources she/he needs to be able to carry out her/his professional duties in the school effectively. 

7. The school gives the new employee specific guidelines and advice on potential cultural dissonance and/or diversity challenges that she/he may experience in the school or in the locality. 

Meeting these standards will include the requirement of meeting the following specific expectations. 

1. General 

   1. All the school’s communications to the new employee are timely, respectful, clear and helpful. 

   2. The school responds in a constructive and timely manner to any questions raised by the new employee.

   3. The school acts in a constructive and timely manner to solve any problems encountered by the new employee.

   4. The school understands the importance of building a close working relationship with the new employee and encouraging in her/him a sense of confidence and security even before her/his arrival and makes good use of virtual meetings in order to achieve this. 

2. Professional and personal orientation 

   1. All communications from the school to the future employee are timely, respectful, clear and helpful.   This includes making it clear to the future employee who, specifically, in the school team will be their primary point of contact and will deal with their questions and needs.

   2. The school responds in a constructive and timely manner to any questions raised by the future employee about any aspect of her/his future employment or about any aspect of the pre-contract preparations.

   3. The school takes every opportunity to communicate elements of the arrival/onboarding/orientation process as appropriate to new employees in the pre-arrival period, specifically, the school gives the future employee clear information relating to:

      1. The start of the employment contract, including the expected arrival date, the procedure for making all necessary travel arrangements, arrangements for the employee’s arrival and first days, as well as the timetable and full content of the onboarding process,

      2. The staff members who will be responsible for different parts of this process, along with their contact details.

   4. The school makes available the future employee a copy of the staff handbook (or equivalent manual of school policies and procedures) prior to the start of her/his employment. This handbook will include full details of the school’s salary scale and the principles that determine where on that scale a staff member is placed.

   5. On arrival the new employee is met personally by a representative of the school and accompanied to her/his accommodation.

   6. If necessary because permanent housing is not immediately available, the new employee is given temporary accommodation at school expense for a reasonable period of time, until (s)he is able to move into permanent accommodation.    All such accommodation, whether temporary or permanent, is of good quality, comfortable, clean, secure, and adequately equipped to meet the new employee’s needs. 

   7. The school makes effective plans and arrangements to ensure that the new employee – together with her/his accompanying family members as appropriate (see ix. below) – is acquainted with all aspects of daily life outside of school, including becoming familiar with the geography of the city, local transport options (including transport from accommodation to school), shopping options, health care options, etc. 

   8. The school provides information, guidance and support, as needed, to enable the new employee to set up essential services such as banking and internet.

   9. The school makes effective plans and arrangements to ensure that the new employee becomes aware of any important cross-cultural considerations, including the key dos and don’ts of life in the school/city/country. 

   10. The school gives the new employee all appropriate information, guidance, assistance and resources so as to ensure that (s)he is equipped and ready to start carrying out the professional responsibilities of her/his position.

   11. Specifically, the school makes effective plans and arrangements to ensure that the new employee becomes aware of all the school’s policies and procedures, particularly those related to teaching and learning and to any other aspects of student well-being, and has enough time allocated in the orientation stage in which to work with team leaders, department heads and other managers on planning effectively for the first days of teaching. The school has in place an effective mentoring process that operates in a new employee’s first year, linking each new employee to one or more current teachers and helping her/him to adjust professionally, personally and socially to the new environment for at least the first six weeks following the candidate’s arrival to the host country.

   12. The admissions process for any school-aged child(ren) is well-communicated and facilitated in a timely manner.

   13. The school attends effectively to the needs of all dependents – partners/spouses and children – and fully involves them in all relevant orientation sessions and activities, including if possible appropriate activities planned specifically for children, with school staff in charge.  

3. Child Safeguarding 

   1. The school has established clearly documented and effectively implemented policies and procedures relating to child safeguarding to protect and promote the well-being of all students. 

   2. The school policies in place cover all aspects of students’ health and safety, including: safe recruitment; staff conduct; student behaviour; reporting, managing and recording safeguarding concerns and allegations of any kind of harassment or abuse; online safety. 

4. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) 

   1. Principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice are integrated appropriately into all parts of the daily life of the school and woven appropriately into the teaching and learning process.

   2. The school has effective policies and procedures in place to ensure that the treatment of all staff and students of all backgrounds is equitable and consistent, and entirely free of discrimination of any kind that favors in any way one group over another.

The duration of this stage is considered to be the whole period between (1) the arrival of the newly contracted employee in the country where the school is located and (2) the final day of the employee’s final contract with the school.

Standards: 

1. The school has a clear and well-integrated governance, leadership and management structure, with the roles and responsibilities of all leaders and managers documented, transparent, well understood and consistently respected and implemented by all those involved in the structure at every level of seniority.

2. The school has in place policies and procedures that in general ensure its financial health and economic viability. 

3. The school’s employees at every level of seniority are appropriately qualified for the roles to which they are assigned. 

4. The school has established effective policies and procedures to ensure that the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are understood, respected and implemented in all areas of activity throughout the school community. (See C.6 below). 

5. The school as the employer fully honors all obligations of the contracts it has entered into with employees. 

6. The school has established clear channels and principles of good communication so as to enable any employee to seek appropriate active support from her/his employer in relation to any job-related problem, concern or grievance. 

7. The school has established clear channels and principles of good communication so as to ensure that all employees receive in a clear and timely manner all information related to any aspect of their professional duties in the school. 

8. The school’s leaders and managers ensure that any changes that may become necessary to previously shared information related to an employee’s professional duties are made with consideration of the employee’s well-being. 

9. The school has established effective policies and procedures to ensure that the school’s working environment is at all times kept healthy (taking into account both physical and mental health), safe and secure, in the best interests of all members of the school community. 

10. The school caters effectively for the professional needs of employees, including fair evaluation of professional performance and the provision of professional development opportunities which employees find relevant and valuable.

11. All school representatives involved in the management of employees gain the confidence of employees and inspire a high level of professional satisfaction among them. 

12. The school has established effective policies and procedures to ensure that employees are well supported during the final stages of their employment so as to allow for smooth and trouble-free transfer to subsequent employment. 

Meeting these standards will include the requirement of meeting the following specific expectations. 

1.   Governance, leadership and ownership  

   1. The roles and responsibilities of all those involved in the ownership, governance, leadership and management of the school are suitably and transparently defined in writing and respected in practice. 

   2. The holders of all positions in the governance, leadership and management structure work together efficiently through appropriate internal communication and consultation, so as to ensure integrated and collaborative leadership, as well as unity of purpose and close and effective co-operation between academic and non-academic leaders.

   3. The school leadership ensures the provision of adequate resources (personnel, equipment and facilities) to support the school’s educational objectives. 

   4. The head of school is empowered to be the educational leader of the school and, in partnership with the owners and/or Board, has clearly defined responsibility for student learning, for all aspects of student and staff well-being, and for decisions on the recruitment of teaching staff.  

   5. The school leadership is responsible for ensuring and maintaining throughout the school community a healthy culture of good order, appropriate behavior, and productive relationships based on respect.  

2. Contracts  

   1. The school faithfully honors all its obligations under the terms of any contract it has entered into with an employee.  

   2. Any changes to a contract that may be considered necessary during its course are never imposed unilaterally by the school – they are fully explained to employees, negotiated in good faith, and implemented only with consent.  

   3. An employee unwilling to accept changes made by the school to a contract during its course is free to withdraw from the contract without penalty.  

3. Communication 

   1. The school provides access to all employees a copy of the school calendar prior to the start of the school year and subsequently adheres to this calendar, with only minimal and necessary changes to working hours and days. 

   2. The school provides all employees with clear guidelines on the appropriate channels of communication to use if and when they have concerns related to student behavior, curriculum, resources and any HR-related matters. 

4. Teaching and learning  

   1. The school has effective policies and procedures in place to ensure that all its programs, curricular and extra-curricular, are delivered in accordance with representations made to candidates and future employees about those programs in the recruitment stage (including any such representations made in the employment contract) and in the onboarding/orientation stage. 

   2. The teaching and other educational resources offered by the school are well designed to ensure relevance to the needs of all its students and allow all students to be fully engaged and challenged and to have success in their learning.

   3. The school makes effective provision for the continuous professional development of staff, addressing their various professional needs appropriately and contributing as a result to their professional growth and also to the enhancement of student learning and well-being.  

   4. The school has in place a system for evaluating the performance of staff that is clearly defined – with regard to responsibilities, procedures, expectations, consequences – and equitably implemented on the basis of transparent criteria.  

5. Well-being  

   1. The school effectively promotes the well-being of all staff and students, with regard to mental and physical health, safety and security and makes available resources to staff members related to mental health care, including counseling services. 

   2. The school effectively ensures that any complaints from staff or students, and any problems encountered by staff or students as a consequence of their school membership, are dealt with sympathetically and constructively.

6. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) 

   1. The school is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all of its forms throughout the school community.  

   2. Principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice are integrated appropriately into all parts of the daily life of the school and woven appropriately into the teaching and learning process. 

   3. The school’s valuing of individual uniqueness and fostering of a culture of inclusion are reflected in its recruitment practices.  Consequently, it does not favor any particular country (or set of countries), nationality, language group, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age groups from which to draw its staff or students. 

   4. The school has effective policies and procedures in place to ensure that the treatment of all staff and students of all backgrounds is equitable and consistent, and entirely free of discrimination of any kind that favors in any way one group over another.      

   5. The school has procedures in place whereby any issues relating to DEI are heard transparently and dealt with constructively. 

7. End of contract support 

   1. The school provides all appropriate help and support to employees who are in the final year of their contract and who seek to move to a new job in a different school, for example by writing references on request in a timely manner or by facilitating the transfer of an employment visa to another school.  

   2. The school provides all financial and logistical support to employees as required by their contracts (and also other general support as necessary and as befits a good employer), including for example end of contract airfare, help with terminating accommodation leases, transfer of personal effects to the next destination and other practical matters relating to the departure of the employee from the school. 

   3. The school provides all necessary guidance and assistance to the departing employee in fulfilling all governmental requirements relating to the exit of the employee from the country (where that is the case). 

   4. The school provides all necessary documentation to the departing employee such as tax payment certificates (as applicable), police clearance certificate (if applicable and requested) and other documents required to ensure that the employee has complied with all necessary regulations on departure from the school and/or the country, as the case may be.