Support for Band 3 teachers

The IEU offers professional support for members at ‘Band 3’ schools attempting to achieve ‘experienced teacher’ status.

There are some 130 schools, mostly in the Sydney region, that are members of the Association of Independent Schools (AIS) and are covered by the standards (or three band) multy enterprise agreement.

Teachers that reach Band 3 are paid at a higher salary rate under the agreement, so achieving the status is an industrial matter.

IEU Professional Development and Accreditation Officer Elizabeth Finlay has for many years offered her services to individual members of the Union who require assistance with Band 3 accreditation.

As well as assisting individual teachers, Elizabeth advocates with the AIS on behalf of teachers, making sure the Union and teachers are consulted about any proposed changes to the system.

“The Union has developed a good relationship with the AIS, and this is important because we can negotiate on any changes that might affect members,” Elizabeth says.

Last year was a learning curve for everyone, including Elizabeth, as the AIS moved to National rather than NSW Standards, and also went digital.

“Teachers had to submit a digital portfolio last year, which turned out to be an advantage, as previously many teachers had to get several large portfolios bound and paginated.

“The digital system provides templates that make the submission process easier.”

Invaluable support

Having someone to bounce ideas off during her 10-month Band 3 accreditation process last year was a real boon for Nikki Martel.The Danebank Anglican School for Girls Science Teacher says the process probably took at least 500 hours, but Elizabeth's support was invaluable.

“We have someone going through Band 3 accreditation at this school pretty much every year,” Nikki says.

“One of the girls who had done it a previous year just raved about Elizabeth and how helpful she had been, pointing out what was required and what was not.

“At the start this was all very daunting for me and there were lots of words and language that were not immediately obvious.

“I think I had my first meeting with Elizabeth at the beginning of Term 1. It was really helpful to have someone like her sit down and say ‘no that’s not what that means, they’re looking for this, this and this’.

“We made a plan of how to make things happen and that was great.”

During several visits that Elizabeth made to the school, monthly goals were set.

“We’d plan what I needed to do and check what I’d done. Just lodging everything electronically, scanning it in and doing the annotations took several days.

“You certainly get good support and value from the IEU, and I would recommend any independent school teacher join the Union.

“I’m really grateful for all the support and help I got.”

Rekindled passion

While the Band 3 accreditation process was a time consuming one, it rekindled Danebank Anglican School for Girls TAS Teacher Lisa Tolley’s passion for teaching.

Like Nikki, Lisa undertook the process last year, with help from Elizabeth.

“I think I saw an email from the curriculum coordinator that said this help was available so I took the opportunity,” Lisa says.

“I saw Elizabeth regularly and she guided me in addressing what was required for each standard.

“She helped me tick off each component one-by-one and make sure I had enough evidence and it was annotated properly.

“She wanted to make sure what I submitted would make sense to whoever assessed it and was good at motivating me and setting monthly goals.

“I found it a rewarding experience. It made me more aware of how much I do and made me revisit certain things, like meeting the needs of my students.

“You tend to get bogged down with the day-to-day things so doing the accreditation work reminded me of what we are giving to the students.”

Setting an example

Catherine Morrissey’s Band 3 portfolio impressed the assessors so much it will be used as an example for next year’s applicants.

But the Kinocoppal Rose Bay Primary School Teacher admits she would have been “lost” navigating the process without Elizabeth’s help.

“She worked around my timetable to come out and see me a number of times and spent a couple of hours with me each time,” Catherine says.

“She was very thorough and went through each Standard in detail just in case there was any evidence missing.

“I was able to email her any questions at any time and she was great at getting back to me.”

Catherine says doing the Band 3 assessment was “a real challenge”.

“As teachers we have all the evidence required, it’s just a matter of annotating it and collating it. It is good for you as teacher to get an overview of what you have.

“I would definitely recommend to Elizabeth to anyone who is a member of the Union. She provides a superb service.”

Easier editing

“I’ve been a member of the IEU since I began working at Georges River Grammar in 2010,” says Jenny Chisholm of Georges River Grammar School.

“While I haven’t had to call upon the services of the IEU, I was pleased to find out that the Union offered assistance and advice to members completing the Experienced Teacher accreditation.

“This assistance not only meant I could contact my Union representative, Elizabeth Finlay, over the phone or via email whenever I had any questions, but she also visited my school to have face-to-face meetings to review my work.

“This was most helpful as I was completing my accreditation under the new process, using the National Standards and often needed another colleague, outside of school, to clarify that I had interpreted the standards correctly.

“When comparing my colleagues’ paper portfolios from previous years, I felt the digital portfolio format made compiling the final presentation much easier. I could readily edit and locate my evidence and annotations related to each standard without it impacting on the whole portfolio.

“Not only did I successfully achieve my accreditation but ISTAA [Independent School Teacher Accreditation] requested to use my digital evidence as an example to assist future candidates to understand the quality of work required as they felt my evidence was clearly presented and my annotations were succinctly written.”

Greater understanding

“When I first saw a colleague’s Experienced Teacher paperwork I felt nervous about completing my own as it seemed like a lot of hard work. However, compared to the paper submissions, the digital portfolio was a lot easier to complete,” says Tammy Kumar of Malek Fahd.

“This was mainly due to the fact that the digital portfolio was already prepared by the AIS. This year, the National Standards were incorporated into the Experienced Teacher Accreditation. I have found that
I now have a greater understanding of the Standards.

“I would like to thank the IEU for their continuous support and encouragement. I could not have completed my Accreditation without their help.”