European Council of International Schools
ECIS is an association of international schools founded in 1965.The association was known as the European Council of International Schools until late 2012, when it became a UK Charity. Though still trading as ECIS (letters only), the Charity's name is ECI Schools. and the headquarters are in London.
ECIS is a network that promotes the ideals of and best practices in international education. The organisation provides leadership in addressing significant current and future educational and global issues in support of its membership—traditionally in Europe, and also worldwide. Membership is for international and internationally-minded schools, with services centred on professional learning for practitioners, from classroom assistants to teachers to senior administrators, headteachers, and trustees/governors, as well as owners and proprietary groups of schools.
ECIS sees five challenges facing international education today, due to the relentless change in the world around us. Those areas are Human Capital, Organisational Capital, Information (Intelligence), Safeguarding, and Transitions. ECIS believes that these challenges are unique opportunities to innovate and raise education out of a seemingly confused time of myriad changes into a world of clarity and purpose. ECIS, therefore, is aligning itself with like-minded organisations, ministries of education, independent educational associations and schools, and new partnerships in order to create deep insights and advantages for its member schools, effectively acting as a catalyst for change in education in the UK, Europe, and worldwide.
ECIS is especially interested in the intersection of thought leadership and professional learning, research, data, and advocacy, and supports the inclusion of other cultures and languages in the pursuit of this intersection. A recent report commissioned by ECIS and produced by the Royal Society of Arts, Third Culture Schools, lays out the opportunities in education worldwide in which ECIS aims to be a principal mover. In addition to this report, ECIS produces a series of effective practice publications for schools (e.g. data management, governance), offers a digital magazine entitled Global Insights, provides thousands of Pounds Sterling for grants and fellowships that promote and support internationally-minded education around the world (especially those projects with social impact), establishes benchmarks for schools through its annual Global Benchmarking Survey, promotes international mindedness in pedagogical practice through its signature International Teacher Certificate, offers timely webinars for its members on matters of importance for schools, and partners with the Commission on International Education division of NEASC (the New England Association of Schools and Colleges) to provide the professional learning around its new accreditation protocol, aimed at leveraging accreditation as a positive driver for transformative teaching and learning in international schools, irrespective of curriculum followed.
All this and more can be found on the ECIS website.