Our Commitment to Child Protection

In support of our mission to partner with quality international schools and exceptional educators to serve and enrich learning worldwide, we at Search Associates recognize our responsibility to adopt and promote practices designed to protect children in our partner schools (and beyond) from harm. We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to safeguard the welfare of children, including in these specific ways:

Participating in the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP), including as Co-Chair of the Recruiting Committee

Search Associates participated as a co-chair of the ITFCP’s Recruitment Committee, which developed a set of recommended recruitment screening and assessment practices for international schools. These practices were pilot-tested by 75 schools over the course of a year, resulting in a revised set of practices which can be found at the following site: https://www.icmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ITFCP-Recommended-Recruitment-and-Screening-Practices-April-2017.pdf

Integrating Child Protection measures into our recruiting practices

We have adopted all of the ITFCP’s Recommended Screening and Assessment Practices that are appropriate for the specific role we, as a recruiting agency, play in the recruiting process. In addition to adopting these measures in our own screening and evaluation practices, we aim to make as much information as possible available about each educator candidate in our database so that our partner schools can incorporate that information into their own recruiting practices.

Promoting Child Protection recruiting practices among our member schools

In addition to providing information on our educator candidates that is relevant to schools’ screening and evaluation practices, we also promote awareness and updates on developments in child-safe recruiting practices at our job fairs.

Staying up to date on new developments on Child Protection measures

We participate in training on Child Protection at conferences and via webinars, and incorporate latest relevant developments into our own practices and services provided to member schools.

Aligned with the recommendations of the International Task Force on Child Protection, we hold ourselves to a high standard of effective recruiting practices with specific attention to child protection

Did You Know…?

Senior Associate Bill Turner’s international teaching career has taken him to Sudan, Italy, Qatar and the UAE as well as his home country of England. His very first teaching position was in rural Sudan.