Education and training
ISO 21001:2025
Management systems for educational organisations
ISO 21001 sets out requirements for a management system for educational organisations.
A certified organisation designs and delivers learning that meets the needs of learners and other beneficiaries, such as parents, employers and funders, and manages its teaching, assessment and support services consistently. It is aligned with ISO 9001 but written specifically for education and training.
Who it suits
Schools, colleges and universities, vocational and professional training providers, e-learning and distance learning providers, language schools, corporate academies and in-house training departments: any organisation whose services include education or training. ISO 21001 certification is issued by certification bodies and is separate from ISAO's own accreditation of training organisations.
What certification involves
ISAO, or a certification body accredited for ISO 21001, audits the system in two stages: first the scope, the educational products and services offered and readiness; then how the design and delivery of learning, assessment, learner support and feedback work in practice, which may include observing teaching and speaking to learners and staff. The certificate states the programmes, services and sites covered. Certification is not a qualification, a degree-awarding power or a licence to teach, and it does not replace inspection or registration by education regulators. Certificates are normally valid for three years, with surveillance audits at least once a year and a recertification audit before expiry. ISAO carries out this certification itself, and also accredits certification bodies to do it. Every certificate ISAO issues, and every certificate issued under ISAO accreditation, is recorded on the public register.
Key themes
- A focus on learners and other beneficiaries, including learners with special needs
- Designing curricula and learning services around defined outcomes
- Fair, valid and reliable assessment of learning, the focus of the 2025 revision
- Competence and development of teaching and support staff
- Accessibility, equity and ethical conduct in education
- Protecting learners' data, and handling complaints and appeals
- Measuring the satisfaction of learners and other beneficiaries, and improving
Edition
- Current edition
- ISO 21001:2025
ISO 21001:2025, the second edition, was published in July 2025. It replaced ISO 21001:2018 and that edition's 2024 climate change amendment. The revision updated what the standard says about assessing learners, in line with how assessment is carried out in education today. ISO 21001 and ISO 29993 together replaced ISO 29990:2010, the earlier standard for learning services, which has been withdrawn. A certificate that still names ISO 21001:2018 refers to a withdrawn edition: ask the issuing body about it.
Check a certificate for ISO 21001:2025
- Enter the certificate number or verification code at Verify a certificate, or scan the QR code on the certificate. The record shows the certificate's status today, for example valid, suspended, withdrawn or expired.
- Compare the organisation name, scope and sites on the record with the copy you were given. Check the programmes, services and sites named in the scope: a certificate for one campus or course does not cover the whole institution.
- Check who issued the certificate, as named on the record. Where a certification body accredited by ISAO issued it, the record shows the status of that accreditation and its accreditation number, and says so if the accreditation did not cover ISO 21001:2025 when the certificate was issued.
- If the certificate is not on the register, ISAO cannot confirm it: it may have been issued under another accreditation, or a detail may be wrong. Ask the issuing body, and report a concern if something does not look right.
Related standards
This is ISAO’s own summary, not the text of the standard. Copies of ISO 21001:2025 can be bought from ISO or from national standards bodies.