CfBT/WES

CfBT Education Trust offers accreditation through the experience and services of its WES department, formerly known as WES World-wide Education Service (which no longer exists in that form; in June 2006, CfBT Education Trust acquired WES World-wide Education Service).  For ten years in its own right, WES was also an Ofsted contractor in the UK. CfBT Education Trust is currently a large Recognised Inspection Provider (RISP).

CfBT  undertakes international inspection as part of their service to schools.  Schools which wish to seek the benchmark of accreditation must affiliate to CfBT, enabling the development of an “educational partnership relationship”. CfBT "’tells it how it is’ with recommendations for improvement and full acknowledgement of all that is good”, but their accreditation inspection has set criteria to be met.

Always of particular interest to the GSGI, CfBT’s accreditation and international inspection work looks carefully at governance as well as leadership and management.  In fact, the CfBT  accreditation criteria includes most of the main "headings" of an Ofsted framework (because as they comment,  any thorough inspection will cover those main areas, whether Ofsted UK or international).

In 2006, CfBT introduced an additional requisite that accredited schools remain affiliated to them, enabling them to keep an eye on any significant changes in schools which might have an adverse effect.

Schools are accredited for a specific period of time, and parents looking at a school can ask about that in order to be sure a school is not claiming accredited status beyond that academic year.

According to CfBT/WES all accreditation inspectors in a team have been trained and recognised by Ofsted (who, remember, NEVER inspect offshore except for MoD schools);  in addition to their international experience, the inspectors might have also inspected for Ofsted teams in England (and possibly Wales) (In one example in the GSGI, the leading inspector was a Registered Inspector and then a Leading Inspector). 

NB Remember the GSGI rule of thumb: most reputable schools will allow parents to see the actual report, and of course will not rewrite the disagreeable or uncomfortable bits. But if you have any question about the accuracy of the report, contact accrediting agency itself.