Why Child Protection Drives Our Work
How we screen educators, vet schools, and promote safer hiring across our network.
Children are at the center of everything international schools do, and protecting them is at the center of everything we do. As a recruitment organization serving hundreds of schools worldwide, we carry a unique responsibility in how educators are connected to school communities. Every practice we have built, from how we screen educators to how we evaluate schools, is designed with the safety of children as a guiding priority.
In the early years of the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP), we participated as a member of its Recruitment Committee, contributing to the development of recommended screening and assessment practices for international schools. The ITFCP is a coalition of education organizations, safeguarding experts, law enforcement professionals, and school leaders dedicated to strengthening child protection standards across international schools globally. The practices developed through that work are embedded in how we operate today.
How Child Protection is Built into Our Process
Commitments mean very little without follow through. Here is what we have done:
How We Screen Educators for Membership
Becoming a member of our educator network is not automatic. Our application process is intentionally comprehensive, and that is by design.
Educators complete a detailed profile that includes professional history, teaching qualifications, and personal background. Every applicant is reviewed by an experienced Senior Associate and team members before being approved for membership.
This level of scrutiny serves a purpose beyond quality. A rigorous, transparent process signals to anyone considering membership exactly what we expect: professionalism, integrity, and accountability. The depth of our application is, in itself, a safeguard. It attracts educators who welcome that level of review, and it deters those who do not.
Why References Matter — and How We Handle Them
References are a cornerstone of responsible recruitment, and we take them seriously.
Every educator in our network submits confidential professional references, which are then available to recruiting schools through our platform. These are not optional attachments or informal recommendations. They are a required part of each educator’s profile, and schools rely on them as part of their own due diligence.
New educators joining our network provide a minimum of four confidential references, including from direct supervisors. Returning educators provide updated references reflecting their most recent experience. References are submitted directly by the referees themselves, and if a reference raises concerns or is submitted incorrectly, our team follows up. We encourage our member schools to contact referees directly whenever they are seriously considering an educator, consistent with ITFCP guidance on the importance of live reference conversations in safer recruitment.
Background Checks: What We Recommend and Why
While we do not require educators to have a background check in hand before joining, we strongly recommend that all educators obtain criminal and police background checks from both their country of passport and their current country of residence.
The vast majority of our member schools require these checks as a condition of hire, and international accreditation agencies increasingly incorporate background screening into their standards.
To make this process straightforward, we have partnered with Avanz, a background screening provider, and give educators direct access to their services through our membership process. Educators can initiate and complete background checks without navigating the process on their own across multiple countries and agencies. Having current documentation uploaded to a Search Associates profile demonstrates readiness and professionalism, and it reflects the seriousness with which an educator approaches child safety.
The Schools in Our Network Are Vetted Too
Child protection is not only about screening educators. It is also about the schools they join.
We are selective about which schools are invited into our network, and we decline a significant number of school applications each year. Our evaluation considers a school’s governance structure, accreditation status, working conditions, professional standards, and overall reputation within the international education community.
Schools that join our network agree to uphold professional recruiting standards, and we expect them to conduct their own thorough screening as part of every hire. Our platform provides schools with access to detailed educator profiles, reference letters, uploaded credentials, and background check documentation, all in one place.
Safer Recruitment Beyond our Own Practices
Our commitment to child protection extends beyond our own screening practices. We actively encourage safer recruitment practices across our entire network.
At our international recruiting fairs, we set clear expectations for how schools engage with educators. Schools conduct thorough due diligence, including checking references, before extending an offer. These are not suggestions. They are standards we communicate firmly and consistently because responsible hiring practices are one of the most effective tools in child protection. Our Senior Associates, all former international educators, bring firsthand understanding of school environments and reinforce these expectations throughout the recruitment process.
We stay current with evolving standards and guidance from the ITFCP and the broader international education community, and we continuously review our own practices to ensure they remain aligned with recognized safer recruitment standards.
We also maintain a confidential reporting pathway for anyone who wishes to raise a concern. If an educator, school, or member of our community becomes aware of a child protection issue connected to our network, we want to know. Reports can be submitted through our Report a Concern page, and all submissions are treated with the seriousness and discretion they require.
Staying Current and Accountable
Child protection standards in international education continue to evolve, and we are committed to evolving with them.
We monitor guidance from the ITFCP, international accreditation agencies, and other leading bodies in the field, and we update our own practices accordingly. When standards change, we review what that means for how we screen educators, what we expect from member schools, and how we structure our recruiting fairs.
Protecting children is not a policy we adopted. It is a responsibility we carry in every part of our work, from the first application we review to every hire made through our network. We hold ourselves to that standard because the schools and families in our community trust us to do so, and because it is the right thing to do.
Have a concern?
If you are aware of a child protection issue, your first step should always be to report it to the school directly and to the appropriate local authorities. If you also want to make Search Associates aware of a concern involving a member of our community, you can do so through our Report a Concern page. We take every report seriously, but we are not a legal or investigative body and cannot intervene in that capacity.
Learn More About the ITFCP
Visit the ICMEC Education Portal for resources, guidance, and publications from the International Task Force on Child Protection.