Quality Assurance

The ATS is committed to promote educational excellence in the Independent schools, to ensure member schools provide high-quality education in all areas of school life. Schools wishing to join the ATS are required to undergo a strenuous application process to determine if their standards match those of ATS.

ATS is also committed to ensuring member schools are regularly measured according to the highest, internationally-accepted standards.

While each school will be appraised by the Board of Governors, overseen by ATS and judged by the parent body, there is a commitment from each school to be open to external and independent assessments. It is only reasonable to expect that an Independent school should have Independent assessment! It further assures parents that they are receiving quality education while it also involves parents’ views and feedback.

There are various organisations that currently assist ATS schools with their accreditation and appraisals.

IQAA

IQAA is based in South Africa and has been serving the South African equivalent body of
Independent schools (SAHISA) with quality assurance for many years.

The Independent Quality Assurance Agency (IQAA) has been formed to provide quality assurance through evaluation of schools.

The following principles and functions are fundamental:

maintenance and improvement of standards and quality of education offered to pupils in schools;
encouragement of an attitude and atmosphere of constant internal self-evaluation in schools;
assuring governing bodies and all other educational authorities concerned, in an unequivocal and accessible way, of the quality of their schools;
providing information and advice on quality assurance to any schools, associations and educational authorities who seek it; and
promoting appropriate accountability.

It has subsequently assessed over 700 schools in southern Africa, including Angola, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.”

ACSI

The Association of Christian Schools International is a world-wide organisation that is committed not simply to high quality education but also to high quality Christian education. Their initial

Accreditation process is extremely thorough and provides a clear picture of what the school is doing. SAHISA accepts the ACSI Accreditation process as being the equivalent of IQAA.

“Strengthening Schools, Equipping Educators
ACSI schools seek accreditation to validate their quality and verify that they are striving for excellence based on a solid Christian philosophy of education foundation.

The ACSI accreditation protocol is unique in two major ways: (1) It probes the spiritual aspects of each component of the organization and (2) it addresses the educational quality and integrity of the organization. The latter addresses the issues demonstrating that the school is true to its own statements of philosophy, mission, and goals and that it is meeting the standards of quality and effectiveness.

ACSI accreditation is a highly effective way for a Christian school/program to evaluate itself in light of its unique educational mission. An authentic Christian school/program may be thought of as involving the four interwoven educational strands of (1) academic ideas and thinking; (2) skills for life and living; (3) biblical worldview grounding; and (4) personal character, values, and spiritual formation. The self-study process guides a school/program to evaluate and reflect on all it does in light of this distinctive, four-pronged mission.

Accreditation and school improvement assist schools in changing for the better in an orderly and systematic way. They bring a vigorous dynamic into the school by engaging every school constituent in a process of organizational appraisal.”