In September, the AASSA Board of Trustees held a ‘day of visioning’ facilitated by Teresa Arpin aimed at reimagining and repositioning AASSA for the ever-changing landscape of international education and our role as a regional organization. As a result of that day, AASSA reaffirmed its mission and vision but developed new belief statements which will guide our role as a regional organization and determine the services and programs we offer.
As an organization, AASSA believes:
Professional development and collaboration lead to improved student learning
Research and risk taking promote innovative teaching and learning
Effective governance includes a balance of fiduciary, strategic and generative best practices
All stakeholders are entitled to a safe learning and working environment
School operations are enhanced through quality support services.
As a result of our renewed focus, it was decided that AASSA will no longer consider schools as full members unless they are fully accredited. Invitational Member schools that are not accredited or candidates for accreditation will not be permitted to attend the AASSA Recruiting Fair. Previously, we recognized the offering of the IB Programme at two levels of the school as meeting membership requirements, but it was felt that we should maintain a high standard and that was not globally ensured by IBO authorization. The very few current member schools in this situation will be grandfathered.
We also affirmed the goal of offering more school-organized institutes and conferences with AASSA serving as a sponsor and marketer of these regional events. This year will see the sponsorship of seven such events by the Office of Overseas Schools and AASSA. In the coming months, we will request schools to volunteer to offer institutes during the 2015-2016 school year.