Our Vetting Process

Our Network Is Built on Trust

If you have ever tried to research international schools on your own, you already know how overwhelming it can be.

Thousands of schools spread across more than a hundred countries.

Websites that range from polished to outdated to nonexistent. Forums full of opinions, some informed and some not. Reviews that may or may not reflect the school as it operates today. For an educator trying to make one of the most important decisions of their career, that landscape is exhausting at best and misleading at worst. The questions worth asking are simple. How do you know which schools are credible? How do you know which ones will treat you well? How do you know what is real?

Our vetting process is the answer. Every school in our member network has been reviewed in depth, by real people, before they are ever accepted. Real eyes on every application. Real eyes on every reference. A dedicated review team that takes the full picture of a school and considers it holistically before bringing it to our senior team for a final decision on member status. No automated filtering. No checking a box and moving on. We do this work so the educators in our network do not have to do it alone, and we do it with the kind of care and attention that is increasingly rare in an industry that often defaults to volume over judgment.

When a school is accepted as a member of our network, that means something. Here is what stands behind it.

Becoming Part of Our Network

The School Application: A Full Picture

Every school that wants to join our member network begins with a detailed application. The application asks for the kind of information that gives us a real picture of the school: its history, its mission, its leadership, its programs, its faculty, its compensation and benefits structure, and the way it operates day to day. From there, schools complete a supplementary questionnaire that goes deeper into the areas where we want a fuller understanding before moving forward. The application is the starting point, not the whole picture, but it sets the tone for everything that follows.

Our Review Team: Real People, Real Eyes

Every school application is guided by our School Coordinator, who works directly with the school from start to finish. The Coordinator gathers the application, the supplementary questionnaire, the references, and any additional information along the way, supporting the school through each step. Once everything is in, the compiled review is brought to our senior team for a final decision on member status. Where questions remain, we may ask for more information or arrange a school visit before deciding whether to move forward. The question we ask ourselves throughout is straightforward. Will this school treat the educators who join it well, both professionally and personally?

References from People Who Know the School

References are central to how we evaluate a school. We ask each school to provide professional references, and we also gather confidential references from educators currently working at the school. Hearing directly from teachers on the ground gives us something an application never can: a firsthand account of what it is like to work there, how the school supports its staff, and whether the day to day reality lives up to what the school describes on paper. Confidential references protect the educators who share their perspectives honestly with us, and that honesty is one of the most valuable inputs into our review.

Selectivity Is the Point

It would be easier, and more profitable, to accept every school that applies. That is not how we have built our network, and it is not how we will build it going forward. Every school that applies to join us goes through the same thorough review, and a meaningful number are declined every year. Some are not the right fit. Others are not yet at a stage where we can confidently recommend them to the educators we serve. Being the largest network has never been our goal. Being a network educators can trust is. Educators apply to schools in our network knowing that selectivity is real, and that distinction is one of the most important things we offer.

Once a School Joins Our Network

Verified Every Year, Because Schools Change

Membership is not a one-time review. Every member school is asked to verify and update their information each year, because schools change, leadership changes, and the realities of working at a school evolve over time. Keeping that information current is part of how we make sure educators are working with an accurate picture of every member school they consider.

School Visits: Beyond the Profile

Our Senior Associates visit member schools across our network throughout the year. These visits are not part of the formal screening process. They are part of how we stay close to the schools we work with and the educators teaching in them. Time on the ground, in real classrooms and conversations, gives us a depth of understanding that no application or questionnaire can match. It is one of the ways we keep our network grounded in reality, not just on paper.

Listening to Educators on the Ground

The educators who join member schools are an essential part of how we monitor the network over time. We encourage every educator to stay in touch with us once they arrive at their new school, and to share both what is working and what is not. Their experiences shape how we understand our member schools. We listen to every concern raised, and when a matter falls within the scope of our role, we follow up with care, guided by the information available to us. In the rare cases where a school no longer meets the standards we hold, we may suspend them from our network while we work through it. Most educators never need us to act on a concern. What they do, simply by staying in touch, helps keep our network honest: educators sharing what they see, schools holding to the standards of our membership, and Search Associates listening closely on both sides.

We Do Not Accept Every School. We Choose Them

Here is how that choice gets made.