NESA is now the Teacher Accreditation Authority (TAA) for all teachers. While NESA is the final decision maker, as part of the process, principals will be required to attest as to whether or not the teacher has continued to maintain their practice against the Standards. Employers are required to develop policies which allow the principal to make their attestation.
NESA’s Maintenance of Teacher Accreditation Policy explicitly states:
“The activities and practices that form the basis of this attestation will be comprised of processes that are in place in the school/service and will not generate additional requirements for the teacher” (our emphasis).
The policy further states, while a teacher is required to meet all the Standards in order to maintain accreditation, “there is no requirement for a teacher to produce evidence for every Standard Descriptor through the professional activities and practices that form the basis of the maintenance of accreditation decision for Proficient Teachers”.
This year, the IEU will focus on identifying where employers might seek to implement or continue processes which are not required by NESA for teachers to meet the requirements for accreditation at Proficient or maintenance of accreditation.
Where we identify unnecessary employer overlays, we will be challenging them in the first instance and then bringing them to the attention of NESA if we fail to obtain any movement from the employer. If this applies to your workplace, please contact your organiser immediately.
Accreditation at Proficient Teacher
NESA’s new policy now streamlines this process and schools are no longer required to produce a final report unless they intend to recommend that the teacher has not met the requirements to attain proficient.
Teachers looking to attain proficient teacher status should:
- undertake the NESA Online Proficient Teacher Orientation Course within the first three months of commencing their teaching career
- speak with their principal and establish who will be their supervisor for the process. It is important they do this early in the process so that, in the event of issues arising, they can be addressed in a timely manner. The principal/supervisor has 28 days to address any concerns and provide feedback and support from the time they become aware of a performance issue.
Contact your organiser to obtain the IEU Proficient Teacher Handbook and Workbook.
Professional Development
The IEU is keen to hear from members as to how much accredited PD is being conducted in schools since the changes to NESA’s PD policy. If you would like to provide anecdotal feedback, please email pd@ieu.asn.au and advise if your school is providing more, less, or about the same accredited PD as in previous years. If you are the person responsible for accrediting the PD, let us know the workload impact of this process on your role.
The IEU will be running a full suite of the Behaviour Management courses run by Dave Vinegrad in Semester 1 plus several other general courses which seek to upskill teachers in dealing with difficult situations – not always with students! The first two dates are:
Remaining Semester 1 dates
Thur 4 May Behaviour Matters 3:Making it Right
Mon 15 May Behaviour Matters 4: Upholding the Right
Mon 22 May Managing Difficult Conversations
Wed 31 May Supporting Studentswith Challenging Behaviours
Wed 14 June Thriving and Surviving as a Casual Teacher (ELECTIVE PD in NSW)
Semester 2 dates
Wed 26 April Behaviour Matters 3:Making it Right
Thur 4 May Behaviour Matters 4: Upholding the Right
Mon 31 July Behaviour Matters 1: Getting it Right
Tue 8 Aug Behaviour Matters 2: Keeping it Right
Wed 23 Aug Behaviour Matters 3: Making it Right
Wed 6 Sep Behaviour Matters 4: Upholding the Right
Mon 23 Oct Managing Difficult Conversations
Tue 31 Oct Supporting Students with Challenging Behaviours
Mon 13 Nov Thriving and Surviving as a Casual Teacher (ELECTIVE PD in NSW)
NCCD Update
In 2020, the IEU embarked on a campaign to address the excessive workloads being generated by the NCCD evidence collection process in non-government schools. This led to the development of an NCCD Factsheet which came into full effect this year.
A follow up survey just completed indicates that:
- overall, the NCCD Evidence Factsheet has had a positive impact on workload reduction in schools
- it seems that, in schools where excessive or duplicative practices described by the NCCD Evidence Factsheet persist, diocesan authorities or school leadership teams appear to be the source of the workload.
While members have a strong sense that the IEU has been instrumental in bringing about positive reforms to the data collection process through the development and promotion of the NCCD Evidence Factsheet there is clearly still more work to be done.