Positive Environments for Learning, Working and Life

IAIE is an organization of educators and allied professionals dedicated to creating inviting work and learning environments for individuals to achieve their full potential. We are a global, not-for-profit consortium.

Our Covid-19 Response & Resources

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We want to help you keep your students, staff, community and family healthy during this time. Please see how we are responding and what we are doing to help.

The International Alliance for Invitational Education®

Welcoming Organization and Welcoming School Awards

Organizations can be nominated by members of IAIE if they are notably welcoming to the individuals they employ, the people they serve, and the public. Welcoming school nominees are already taking visible steps to be inviting to students, parents, teachers, administrators and the general public.

Inviting School and Fidelity School Awards

Over 350 schools have already implemented our Invitational Theory and Practice Framework! These award-winning schools have realized improved academic achievement, graduation and attendance rates; enjoy more collaborative and cooperative atmospheres and have reduced behavioral problems, conflicts, suspensions, and failure rates.

Explore Awards

2021 WORLD CONFERENCE

Will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Information

Are You New to Invitational Education?

Welcome! If you are new to the concepts of Invitational Education, we can help you begin your journey with informational resources, activities and an introduction to Invitational Education. The International Alliance for Invitational Education is a not-for-profit group of educators and allied professionals throughout the world, dedicated to the development of positive school, work, and home environments, while opposing those forces that demean and defeat human potential.

An Introduction to Invitational Education

ADVANCED GUIDANCE

WE OFFER CUSTOM PROGRAMS

Invitational Education Workshops

IAIE offers custom workshops led by an experienced Invitational Education facilitator. Contact Kathy Fields, Executive Director, to discuss your organization's interests and needs.

Visit the Invitational Education Toolkit page to view an outline of the 12-step professional development resource designed to guide schools through an invitational approach to creating positive climates for learning, leading and living.

The Toolkit may be facilitated by an IAIE consultant as well as by one or more of your staff members who are familiar with Invitational Theory and Practice. Coaching for your school facilitators is also available.

Individualized Coaching

Regional Leaders are available to help you learn more about Invitational Education and to guide you through the Inviting School Award process. Contact one of your area's your Regional Leaders to discuss your organization's needs.

Visit the Invitational Education Toolkit page to view an outline of the 12-step professional development resource designed to guide schools through an invitational approach to creating positive climates for learning, leading, and living.

The Toolkit may be facilitated by an IAIE consultant as well as by one or more of your staff members who are familiar with Invitational Theory and Practice. Coaching for your school facilitators is also available.

Sharing Ideas Globally

IAIE's network encourages sharing ideas without boundaries. Student Exchange trips are arranged between schools every year. The Alliance hosts a World Conference in a different city across the globe every Fall. The Inviting Schools Survey provides an online tool for school administrators and teachers to compare data about their school climate to similar schools worldwide.

Great Ideas Have No Boundaries

IAIE STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Explore the World!

Provide your students and staff with a transformational learning experience by participating in the affordable IAIE US-Hong Kong Student Exchange Program. Our program will broaden student perspectives as they experience other cultures and school system and develop lifelong friendships. Participating United States schools host a small group of students and teachers from Hong Kong or Mainland China for 10–14 days. Visiting Chinese students and staff stay with host families, attend classes and join their hosts for other school activities. US host schools may then travel to Hong Kong and/or Mainland China to stay with their partner school friends.

How Far Can IE Take You?

Foundations of Invitational Theory

1
People are able, valuable, and responsible, and should be treated accordingly

2
Educating should be a collaborative, cooperative activity

3
The process is the product in the making

4
People possess untapped potential in all areas of worthwhile human endeavor

5
This potential can best be realized by places, policies, programs, and processes specifically designed to invite development and by people who are personally and professionally inviting

Beyond School -- to Business

The Alliance is expanding the application of Invitational Theory to health care agencies and the business world. We know the tenets of Invitational Education and education itself are not limited to the classroom. Learning is a lifetime endeavor!

The Invitational Education approach will provide organizations with a positive, productive alternative to a micro-managed workplace. This will expand, rather than limit, the development of each individual's potential and help them to deliver their personal best. Like inviting places, inviting people will naturally communicate care, optimism, respect and trust through words and actions. This positive communication will promote healthy self-image and will encourage a higher level of performance that will benefit the organization and the individual.

An Inviting Organization is welcoming. It promotes participation. It will offer opportunities for individuals to exercise their best skills and realize their highest potential. An Inviting Organization will ensure its people, places, policies, processes, and programs result in positive interactions and outcomes.

The approach is based on the three interlocking foundations:

1.) The Democratic Ethos

Democracy is a social ideal based on the conviction that all people matter and can grow through participation in self-governance. Invitational theory and practice reflect this democratic ethos through deliberative dialogue, mutual respect, and the importance of shared activities. It is a “doing with,” rather than a “doing to” approach to working with people at all levels. Implied here is a respect for people and their abilities to articulate their concerns as they act responsibly on issues that impact their lives. Deeply embedded in this respect for persons is a commitment to the idea that people who are affected by decisions should have a say in formulating those decisions.

2.) The Perceptual Tradition

The perceptual tradition places consciousness at the center of personal reality. It proposes that people are not influenced by events so much as their perceptions of events. Human behavior is the product of the unique ways individuals perceive the world. To better understand why people do the things they do it is necessary to explore perceptions within and among individuals.

3.) The Self-Concept Theory

An important question in applying Invitational Theory is "Who am I and how do I fit in the world?" This question derives from the third foundation of Invitational Theory: self-concept theory. Self-concept is a complex and dynamic system of learned beliefs that each person holds to be true about his or her personal existence. The theory maintains that behavior is mediated by the ways an individual views oneself and that these views serve as both antecedent and consequence of human activity. Self-concept theory was developed by Jourard (1974), Rogers (1969), Purkey (1970) and many others.