The avant-garde of accreditation

Michelle Gostan celebrates 10 years accreditation this year. The St Joseph’s Catholic College Gosford Drama and English Teacher was among the very first group of New Scheme Teachers to achieve professional competence in 2004.

“I think we were the test case or guinea pigs for the NSW Institute of Teachers bringing in accreditation,” she says.

Michelle’s accreditation coordinator at the time was Jim Hall, now her IEU Organiser.

Michelle has worked at St Joseph’s since graduation and says moving from university straight into the accreditation process was fairly smooth.

“What we were doing was similar to the internship, so it continued on fairly nicely.

“Jim was keen for us to get on to it straight away. The Institute at the time wasn’t sure what they wanted and there was some back and forth, submitting evidence and being asked to come back with more reflections.

“I think they were a bit shocked that we put in for it so quickly. I had a Drama and English Teacher who mentored me in my first year so that was really helpful.

“We met weekly and I met with Jim every few weeks to make sure I was collecting the right evidence to meet every standard.

“We had three years to complete it but we were able to get it done in a year.

“At that time not many people knew much about it so few asked questions. Now that it looks like every teacher is going to have to do accreditation they are starting to ask me more questions.”

Michelle says every teacher, no matter how long in the job, should be able to achieve professional competence.

“It’s things we do every day as professionals. It’s just about being a more reflective teacher and having that professional dialogue, and documenting everything you do.”

Michelle’s says doing the accreditation has encouraged her to test herself throughout her career.

“Needing to keep up the hours has meant that I’ve put my hands up for things I might not otherwise have done. I’ve been keen to do the HSC marking and record that.

“Newcastle University came to our school to do teaching rounds, where four staff get together and go into each other’s classrooms and make sure we’re achieving quality standards.

“I’ve enjoyed all the PD that I’ve done that I probably would have missed out on were it not for accreditation.”

Michelle recently expanded her horizons further by attending the IEU’s Women in Education forum at Gosford, hearing from inspirational teachers who have overcome adversity to continue their careers.

Michelle has a three-year-old boy and currently job shares on a .6 load. She recently reconnected with Jim in his capacity as Union organiser, and says being able to get advice from the Union about maternity leave and job share entitlements was a great reason to be a member.

“Knowing Jim as I did, it made it easier for me to ask questions. Being in the Union it’s reassuring to know there’s someone there who can give you advice about your role.”

Michelle says when she returns to work full-time she will likely go for Professional Accomplishment accreditation.