Request accessible format of this publication.
Develop and submit your first 2 modules
Steps to develop and submit your first 2 modules
During the next stage, Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher (HALT) applicants need to nominate their referees and develop and submit their first 2 modules.
Develop your first module
To develop your first module you need to collect and annotate documentary evidence of your practice including:
- organising your evidence into 3 to 10 items or sets
- nominating 10 to 15 Standard Descriptors
- nominating between 2 to 4 Standard Descriptors per item or set
- annotating the documentary evidence in your NESA online account (eTAMS).
Collectively, your documentary evidence needs to demonstrate the practice, and impact of your practice, for every Standard Descriptor at Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher, as applicable.
Your evidence needs to demonstrate:
- how you have supported colleagues to improve their practice
- the impact on the learning progress and achievement of students or children.
During your HALT application, you will need to submit 3 modules that include a balance of documentary evidence from the following 6 evidence categories:
- Learning and teaching programs
- Observations of teaching students or children
- Reflection and feedback on teaching practice
- Assessment and reporting on student or child learning outcomes
- Collaboration and communication
- Professional learning.
Lead Teacher applicants
As a Lead Teacher applicant, you should:
- collect and annotate documentary evidence of your practice
- write a description of up to 1000 words for your Lead Teacher Initiative for submission with Module 1.
You can include documentary evidence related to your Lead Teacher Initiative in 1 or more modules.
Evidence requirements
All evidence submitted needs to relate to teaching practice in a NSW school or service using the NSW curriculum or Early Years Learning Framework.
To support you to prepare your modules, you can use NESA's Evidence Guides:
File
Highly Accomplished teacher evidence guide – applicants working in K–12 schools (PDF 729.39KB)File
Highly Accomplished teacher evidence guide – applicants working in early childhood services (PDF 1.14MB)File
Lead teacher evidence guide – applicants working in K–12 schools (PDF 751.98KB)File
Lead teacher evidence guide – applicants working in early childhood (PDF 1.11MB)
Attend a NESA workshop
We recommend you attend a NESA workshop to help you:
- understand the Standard Descriptors at the relevant HALT career stage
- and develop documentary evidence for your modules.
We will send you an email at the start of term, with more information about upcoming workshops.
Write a module overview statement
Write a 250 to 400-word overview statement that provides context and background for your evidence. Upload it to eTAMS.
Nominate your referees
You need to nominate 3 to 5 referees in total, across all modules. You can nominate up to 2 referees in your first module.
Across all the modules your nominated referees must include a:
- teacher colleague, and
- a teacher who has received professional assistance or guidance from you.
Your other referees can include but are not limited to:
- teachers
- school or service leaders, including principals and service directors leading other schools or services
- early career or pre-service teachers.
Referees do not need to be accredited teachers but cannot be students or children.
If you are applying for Lead Teacher, you must ensure that at least 1 of your nominated referees can comment on your practice in relation to your Lead Teacher Initiative.
To gain a better understanding of how the people you nominate are required to comment on your practice, you should read the
File
Referee guide - role of referee (PDF 231.05KB)
Internal observations of practice
As part of 1 or more modules, you need to submit:
- 2 internal observations of your practice in the classroom or learning environment.
- 1 observation you conduct of a colleague teaching students or children.
Early childhood teachers
For early childhood teachers, a teacher colleague does not have to work in your service. They may come from another service of your employer or be a teacher from your professional network. You should contact NESA for further advice if you do not have a teacher colleague or a service director who is accredited at Proficient Teacher or above in your service.
Your principal or service director (or their delegate) and a teacher colleague will each complete an internal observation and report of your practice. They should use the template:
File
Colleague observing the applicant: internal observation of applicant’s practice (PDF 167.55KB)You will observe a teacher colleague for the purposes of demonstrating your capacity to work in a supportive and collaborative manner to improve the practice of colleagues.
You must write and annotate a report of this observation aligned to nominated Standard Descriptors at the relevant career stage. This report will be included as 1 item of documentary evidence. You should use the template:
File
Applicant observing a colleague: internal observation of colleague’s practice (PDF 192.44KB)If you are the only accredited Proficient Teacher in the school or service, NESA will provide advice on who will conduct the 2 internal observations.
To help you understand and structure internal observations, you should read NESA's
File
Applicant guide – internal observations (PDF 518.48KB)
Submit your first module
You can submit your module in your eTAMS account.
NESA-trained HALT Assessors will assess your application.
You will receive a HALT Module Report 28 days after you submit Module 1. The report will provide feedback and advice on the Standard Descriptors identified in your first module that are:
- fully demonstrated
- partially demonstrated
- not demonstrated.
Review module assessment
Each of the 3 modules is assessed by at least 2 NESA-trained HALT Assessors. It will take up to 28 days to assess your modules, not inclusive of school holidays. You will be advised if NESA allocates a third assessor, in which case an additional 7 days will be required to complete the assessment.
After the module has been assessed, you will receive a detailed HALT Module Report with feedback on the extent to which your practice and impact of your practice has been:
- fully demonstrated
- partially demonstrated
- not demonstrated.
Carefully read your HALT Module Report to understand the reasons for the assessment and feedback. The report will also have advice on how you can address in a subsequent module, any Standard Descriptors that you have not yet fully demonstrated.
We recommend you attend NESA’s HALT Module Report workshop to maximise the feedback provided.
Develop your second module
Follow the advice received in your HALT Module 1 Report when planning evidence for your second module.
Use the same process as Module 1
To prepare your second module, follow the same process you used to develop Module 1:
- collect and annotate documentary evidence
- nominate up to 2 referees
- consider submitting 1 or more of your 2 mandatory internal observations of practice
- consider submitting your observation of a colleague’s practice.
Submit your second module
Before you submit Module 2 you need to pay your second application fee instalment:
- $180 for Highly Accomplished Teacher
- $220 for Lead Teacher.
As for your first module, NESA-trained HALT Assessors will review or look at your application.
You'll receive a HALT Module Report 28 days after submitting Module 2. The report will provide feedback and advice on the Standard Descriptors identified in this module that are:
- fully demonstrated
- partially demonstrated
- not demonstrated.
Once again, we recommend you attend NESA’s HALT Module Report workshop to maximise the feedback provided.
Issues that may affect your application
Learn about issues that may affect your application.
If you’re the only teacher accredited at Proficient Teacher in your school or service and have no one to complete an internal observation of your practice, contact NESA at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.
We can advise on how the internal observation process can be completed.
If your HALT Module Report contains Standard Descriptors not yet fully demonstrated, consider the feedback in your HALT Module Report. Determine how you will make the practice and/or impact visible in your documentary evidence for any Standard Descriptors not yet fully demonstrated.
You can resubmit documentary evidence aligned to the Standard Descriptors in a future module.
We strongly recommend you attend NESA’s HALT Module Report workshop to understand the feedback.