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Colin Bell introduces The Patron’s Accreditation and Compliance, a new COBIS accreditation programme with royal approval
The Council of British International Schools (COBIS) is a global membership association for international schools primarily teaching the National Curriculum for England or the International Baccalaureate (IB). With schools in 80 countries worldwide, our diverse membership base consists of over 290
COBIS has schools in 80 countries worldwide
unique learning institutions sharing a reputation for quality. Accreditation for schools teaching the ‘British’ curriculum has previously been limited to the UK Department for Education’s (DfE) British Schools Overseas (BSO) scheme (although there are more options for IB schools), and the demand for an
alternative to a process that some schools found challenging has been rising since I joined COBIS in 2010. In more recent years, we consulted with our members to identify how the BSO scheme could be improved and asked them to visualise what a viable alternative would look like. Although hopeful of a change in criteria to the BSO programme from the DfE, especially in terms of restrictions on teaching Western values in the Middle East, our lobbying efforts did not yield positive results and our members remained at odds with the government’s system. This led us to the development of a new, fit-for-purpose accreditation journey which focuses on school improvement called The Patron’s Accreditation and Compliance, named after COBIS Patron, HRH The Duke Of York, KG.
Ensuring quality
The COBIS Patron’s Accreditation and Compliance system is distinct from other accreditation and inspection systems, with elements of autonomy for schools to select areas to evaluate which fit with their identified development objectives. We recognise that schools are highly diverse and exist in complex contexts. Therefore, a one-size approach to a professional accreditation process is not in the best interests of schools, the communities they serve and the unique ministerial jurisdictions in which they operate worldwide. We knew, when developing the programme, that it had to be innovative and unique, and its characteristics reflect and were directly influenced by the views of our schools. It sets high expectations and standards of accountability, it values education for international understanding, it’s based on a realistic 5-year cycle, is far removed from a ‘snapshot inspection of condition’ and harnesses digital power to reduce time and cost. The system was also designed to reflect self-evaluation and support school improvement. At the heart of everything COBIS does is child protection and, with that in mind, we made certain that the accreditation programme had a strong emphasis on scrutinising the effectiveness of safeguarding practices.
Supported by technology
The majority of the school improvement journey takes place on the COBIS Digital Workbook (DWB), an online platform developed by Titus Learning where schools can upload evidence against the standards for accreditation and compliance which include safeguarding, teaching and learning, and leadership, amongst others. The DWB allows collaboration and communication with the school’s assigned LIP, or Lead Improvement Partner. The LIP is an international school professional assigned and trained by COBIS to lead on accreditation and will visit the school, along with a number of accreditation team members known as ‘peer accreditors’, at the culmination of the improvement journey. At the time of writing, we’ve accredited three schools who took part in a pilot stage of The Patron’s Accreditation in early 2017, while Doha College was the first school to participate in the full accreditation process. Dr Steffen Sommer, Principal of Doha College, was impressed by the Accreditation Team tasked with visiting the school and the formal report that followed, saying:
“The COBIS Patron’s Accreditation was the least intrusive evaluation we have ever experienced. The team were highly qualified and suitably experienced in the accreditation and school evaluation processes, explained the essence of the COBIS accreditation to staff and governors right at the outset, and made every effort to blend in. The full written reports, which are well written and usable as a working document and as marketing material, arrived only days after the team had left so that process and delivery of results were in keeping with the promise of an efficient, precise and targeted accreditation which encourages and enables ongoing self-evaluation.”
A busy year ahead
Peter Simpson, Director of Accreditation at COBIS and a former Headteacher at The British School in The Netherlands, predicts that 25-30 new international schools will receive The Patron’s Accreditation or become compliant with the COBIS standards during the academic year 2017-18. By 2022, all COBIS member schools will have been through the programme. That’s not to say that schools which choose to go down the DfE’s BSO route will no longer be given recognition. In fact, BSO schools will continue to be welcomed as COBIS Accredited Members.
