ISCA is committed to providing excellent professional development for international school counselors in a variety of formats. We are excited to announce our newest offering, the ISCA Academy.

View Current Course Offerings at ISCA Academy 

What is ISCA Academy? 

Why ISCA Academy?

The ISCA Academy approach is grounded in the principles of adult learning and best practice in delivering effective professional learning experiences.  This includes opportunities for participants to apply their learning immediately, engage in rich dialogue, and collaborate with others to build understanding of key concepts.  Our courses are solutions-focused and allow for participants to gain and share resources and strategies for approaching common challenges in our profession.  Participants will be expected to complete a short assignment, project or presentation that is designed to enhance learning of the topic.  This will allow participants to apply their learning to their every day work as a school counselor. 

Who will be teaching ISCA Academy Courses?

At ISCA Academy, your course(s) will be facilitated by school counselors, psychologists, curriculum specialists, etc., who are experts in their subject areas.  All facilitators have been accepted to facilitate their course through a rigorous approval process.  ISCA is committed to providing high quality professional learning experiences. As such, all facilitators and courses will be evaluated upon the completion of each course.  We will gather and analyze feedback from participants as we strive to enhance and improve our offerings.

Where and When will courses be offered?

The sessions will take place virtually.  Participants will receive a log-in to the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) and live courses will be hosted via Zoom.  

Current Course Offerings at ISCA Academy

Costs

It is our goal to make professional development available to as many counselors as possible while also providing opportunities for unique collaborations with counselors around the world.  

The trainings will take place virtually with sessions scheduled in 3-hour segments each meeting day along with reading and assignments to help strengthening participant’s understanding of the material.

ISCA encourages schools to register all counselors in ISCA Academy courses.  Enjoy a discount of 12% for multiple registrations of 4 or more participants.  Contact us at info@iscainfo.com if you and your team are interested in this discount offer.

Earn A DIGITAL CERTIFICATE

ISCA is committed to providing you with the tools necessary to achieve your professional goals and we understand that communicating your skills can be challenging. ISCA badges are verified digital certificates that allow you to easily communicate your skills and accomplishments online and with your school. All badges are certified by the International School Counselor Association and contain verified metadata describing the type of qualification and the process required to earn it.

In order to facilitate badges we have partnered with Credly to translate the learning outcomes you’ve demonstrated, from our courses and trainings, into a badge. The technology Credly uses is based on the Open Badge Standards maintained by IMS Global. This enables you to manage, share and verify your competencies digitally.

HOW CAN BADGES BE USED? 

Digital badges can be used in email signatures or digital resumes, and on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. They can also be downloaded and shared with employers. The badge is free and takes under a minute to claim. Sharing your badge offers endless possibilities in terms of professional recognition and career advancement. Employers, especially, appreciate badges for the recognizable credentials and one-click verification.

You can earn an ISCA badge for participating in an ISCA Academy course or ISCA Pre-Conference workshops.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DIGITAL BADGES FOR YOU?

• When you receive a digital badge it serves the following benefits to you professionally: 
• It is a quality certificate and badge clearly explains what you can do, what you did to earn this and who says you earned it. It is more than a piece of paper.
• The digital version of a certificate is easy to share online and with employers 
• The digital version of a certificate is secure and will move with you virtually
• This is a trusted method for real-time verification because it is not self reported

About Professional Development Hours PDHs

We offer the opportunity for counselors to request certificates for the time that they have spent on their professional development through ISCA Academy.  

ISCA cannot guarantee that its PDHs will be accepted by all licensing/recertification boards; it is the responsibility for each participant requesting a certificate of professional development hours (PDHs) to review the requirements of the his/her licensing or re-certification board.  ISCA does recommend to those who are submitting the PDHs for review by your state to also attach the Collaborative agenda and website so that the reviewers have a complete understanding of the event as well as the variety of presentations that were offered. 

For counselors who are certified/licensed in the United States, this website is a useful summary by state:  

• Continuing Education Requirements (ASCA Resource)  

What benefits will you receive?

• You have an array of courses to choose from that are scheduled to fit your needs. All courses will be taught in a hybrid format, i.e. virtually live and off-line assignments and readings with continued discussion board topics.

• The length of times for courses range from 3 - 12 hours depending on the topic of the course.

• Participants will receive a log-in to the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS) and live courses will be hosted via Zoom.

• Courses will be interactive and participants will be expected to complete a short assignment, project or presentation that is designed to enhance learning of the topic as well as practical to integrate into your every day work as a school counselor.   

• You will receive Digital Certificate and Professional Development Hours for each course you have completed.

How is ISCA Academy different from the other professional development offerings such as ISCA Webinars, Counselor Chats, Institutes, the Collaborative or Annual Conference?

School Year 2020-21 will continue to be a unique year in international education and we will be faced with new challenges and demands as school counselors. As such, at ISCA, it is our goal to make professional development available to as many counselors as possible while also providing opportunities for unique collaborations with counselors around the world. 

• ISCA Institutes (in person) ~ Offered periodically through the school year and summer, this 2-day (16 hours) Intensive training is focused on specific topics.   Institutes are offered in cities around the world often partnering with international school counseling departments or with other international associations. Past institutes have focused on the Foundations of the International Model and have been offered in Paris, Bulgaria, Chennai, Nairobi, Suzhou, San Jose, etc. 

• Annual Conference (in person) ~ Every year we host a conference designed to specifically meet the needs of counselors overseas with 60-90 minute workshops on a variety of relevant topics. Our conference also offer pre-conference offerings which go deeper into a specific topic such as PREaPare Training, Mindfulness, Suicide Prevention. The annual conferences take place in the spring or falls of each year (until 2020) in a different international city.

• Collaborative (virtual) ~ In response to events in 2020 and the limited international travel, ISCA created an online event that moved our in person annual conference to a virtual conference. The success of this event was X. Moving forward, until our world is safer to travel in and gather live, we will continue to host the Collaborative over the span of 4 weeks in the fall of 2021. The goal of this event is to bring a variety of people and topics together to recharge our batteries, upskill on a relevant topics and skills. 

• Webinars (virtual) ~ In 2020 we began offering a plethora of webinars for the international school counselor. There are member and non-member webinars. Hosted by ISCA and featuring guest speakers who are experts in their field these webinars give counselors the opportunity to connect with one another, gather information and tools to support their counseling programs. Webinars are 60-90 minutes and will be offered throughout the school year.

• Counselor Chats (virtual) (ISCA members) ~ Informal conversations on a timely and relevant topic. These conversations are facilitated by ISCA and open to ISCA members. They are held virtually for 60-90 minutes. Examples of past chats include Diversity and Inclusion, School Re-Openings, Transitions, etc. 

Current Course Offerings at ISCA Academy