Experienced early childhood teachers who were deemed Proficient in 2016 are due to finalise their maintenance of accreditation in 2021 if they are employed full-time or in 2023 if they are employed part time (unless they have taken a leave of absence during their maintenance cycle).
Finalising your maintenance
The process for finalising your maintenance differs slightly depending upon your employment situation.
If you are employed in an early learning service run by a school then you should follow the usual process as per your teacher accreditation authority (either the school or the AIS).
For early childhood teachers working in early learning or other services not run by schools the following options apply:
I work in a licensed early childhood service and am able to nominate an attestor
Log on to e-TAMS and check your employment details and Maintenance Proficient Teacher due date are correct. If your employment details are incorrect update them. If your due date is incorrect contact NESA.
Ensure you have completed and evaluated 100 hours of Professional Development, hold a current Working With Children Check and are up to date with annual Teacher Registration Fee.
Nominate an attestor (full name and NESA number). Your attestor must be accredited at Proficient Teacher or higher and be employed by in the same approved provider as yourself and have seniority/oversight over your work.
Declare that you have met the requirements for maintenance of Accreditation at Proficient.
Your nominated attestor makes an attestation about your practice.
A NESA authorised delegate makes an accreditation decision.
I work in a licensed early childhood service and am able to nominate a professional referee
Log on to e-TAMS and check your employment details and Maintenance Proficient Teacher due date are correct. If your employment details are incorrect update them. If your due date is incorrect contact NESA.
Ensure you have completed and evaluated 100 hours of Professional Development, hold a current Working With Children Check and are up to date with annual teacher registration fee.
Nominate a professional referee (full name and NESA number). Your professional referee must be accredited at Proficient Teacher or higher and may or may not work in the same organisation as yourself and does not have seniority/oversight over your work but is familiar with your practice.
Write a reflective statement of up to 300 words describing how you have continued to maintain each of the seven Standards at Proficient. Include an example of your teaching practice that demonstrates how your practice has impacted on children’s learning.
Declare that you have met the requirements for maintenance of Accreditation at Proficient.
NESA will make an attestation about your practice.
A NESA authorised delegate makes an accreditation decision.
I work in a non-service based role such as early intervention
Contact NESA directly. You will need to provide a position description and statement from your employer that demonstrates how your role relates to the APST including duties relating to any of the following:
- the development/ implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)
- the learning and wellbeing of children in early learning centres
- curriculum teaching and learning in early learning centres
- early childhood lecturer or tutor in a higher education institution
- an educational consultant for early childhood centre.
Log on to e-TAMS and check your employment details and Maintenance Proficient Teacher due date are correct. If your employment details are incorrect please contact the IEU. If your due date or full/part-time status is incorrect contact NESA.
Ensure you have completed and evaluated 100 hours of Professional Development, hold a current Working With Children Check and are up to date with annual teacher registration fee.
Nominate either an attestor (who is accredited at Proficient Teacher or higher and is employed in the same organisation as yourself and has seniority/oversight over your work) or a professional referee (who is accredited at Proficient Teacher or higher who may or may not work in the same organisation as yourself and who does not have seniority/oversight over your work but is familiar with your practice).
Write a reflective statement of up to 300 words describing how you have continued to maintain each of the seven Standards at Proficient. Include an example of your teaching practice that demonstrates how your practice has impacted on children’s learning.
Declare that you have met the requirements for maintenance of Accreditation at Proficient.
Nominated attestor or NESA will make an attestation about your practice as applicable.
NESA authorised delegate makes an accreditation decision.
I have been nominated as an attestor or professional referee
If a teacher nominates you as an attestor or professional referee you will receive an email from NESA prompting you to log in to your e-TAMS account.
Open the Maintenance of Accreditation task assigned to you on your dashboard and review the information provided by the teacher.
Attestors identify the service-based processes that form the basis of their judgement and make an attestation about the teacher’s practice. Professional referees verify whether the teacher’s declaration is correct and identify the practices that informed their decision. Submit the attestation or verification.
NESA will be alerted that they need to make an accreditation decision for the teacher.
If you would like a more in-depth explanation of the process I recommend watching the Maintenance of Accreditation for Early Childhood Teachers workshop that was recorded and uploaded to the IEU Zone www.theieuzone.org.au.
Email pd@ieu.asn.au for an IEU Zone account if you do not have one already.
If you are experiencing specific issues with your NSW accreditation or eTAMS account please email NESA: ECTaccreditation@NESA.nsw.edu.au
If you are in NSW and would like advice or assistance from the IEU regarding your accreditation or have questions that have not been addressed in this article, please email your accreditation questions topd@ieu.asn.au or lisa@ieu.asn.au