Accreditation for ESD Instructor Training Programs

A Certificate Program is considered eligible to be accredited if it:

1. Is an original, proprietary curriculum* uniquely authored by the applicant / organization;
2. Has unique learning outcomes, sequencing, and instructional methodology;
3. Contains independent assessment criteria and evaluation tools;
4. Includes substantial differentiation in expression, materials, and pedagogy than other programs, even when teaching universally accepted ESD principles.

Adding some clarification to the above. Teaching common ESD principles do not make a program ineligible; but if the program is derivative or copied proprietary work, it is ineligible. For example: Everyone in ESD teaches boundary setting. But not everyone uses the same framework, phrasing, scenarios, assessment tasks, or program architecture. Those differences are what make a training program eligible for Accreditation by the Association. If a program is simply a re-branded version of someone else’s with light editing, it’s not eligible. If it is meaningfully different in structure, content, and assessment, it is. If you are a trainer who uses someone else's curriculum to train instructors, you are not eligible for Accreditation. Please look at our Credentialing program.

In addition to the above, training programs should also meet these baselines: 

• The applicant is a “Legal Entity,” meaning they are a registered organization, business, or independent contractor able to enter into contracts and are in current compliance with local laws and regulations.
• The entity owns the intellectual property rights (copyright) to the training program and materials.
  • NOTE: If you are training instructors with a program created by another entity, please contact us to enquire if the training materials have already been accredited.
• The entity can provide class plans and curriculum for the same or similar ESD workshops instructors will be teaching upon completing their certificate. This curriculum should meet common ESD standards including physical and verbal skills education and trauma-informed facilitation.
• The entity has a documented training process with clear and feasible benchmarks, and a measurable assessment to determine quality and achievement. 

*What does “original, proprietary curriculum” mean?

An original, proprietary curriculum is a training program that an organization created itself and has the legal right to use and teach.

This means the organization:

• Designed the program’s structure and lesson flow
• Wrote its own teaching materials, exercises, and explanations
• Created its own learning goals and how participants are evaluated
• Owns the content or has clear, written permission to use it

Many Empowerment Self Defense programs teach similar topics, such as boundary-setting, awareness, verbal skills, or physical self-defense. Teaching similar ideas does not make a curriculum unoriginal. What matters is how those ideas are taught.

A curriculum is not considered original if it is:

• Copied or lightly edited from another organization’s program
• Used without permission from the original creator
• Re-branded but largely the same in structure, wording, or activities

For accreditation, programs must be meaningfully their own. If an organization uses materials created by someone else, it must have written permission or a license to do so.

Accreditation confirms that a program is legitimate, responsibly created, and legally used, not that it owns ideas that are shared across the field.