Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher accreditation

Scott Fisk, Principal: The HALT process or the Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher process is an opportunity for teaching staff to demonstrate their teaching expertise and skills at higher levels than Proficient.

Andrea Webster, Principal: I think it's probably the most authentic professional learning opportunity you'll get to develop yourself.  As a teacher, a lot of professional learning is based around the things that you do or a programme that you're implementing. Whereas, when you're looking at your Highly Accomplished and Lead teaching levels, it's about building your own skills.

Andrew Cornwall, Highly Accomplished teacher: The accreditation journey somewhat thins the walls of our classrooms. We have to engage with our colleagues; we have to talk about our practise, and that exposes our practise to new and different ways of learning from and together, and that's something that as a profession we need.

There's something about that professional growth journey that is really important for a lot of teachers. And you'll hear a lot of HALTs talk about life before HALT and after HALT, and the different ways they think about their own practise and the influence and impact they have within their school.

Caroline Jarvis, Highly Accomplished Teacher: That sense of accomplishment and pride when I did actually achieve my Highly Accomplished accreditation was amazing. And I think as a result of that, the confidence that I have in my teaching, not just that what I'm doing in my own classroom is working, but that the advice and the way that I'm supporting colleagues is effective. I can really see their confidence grow and also the outcomes of their students really improve as a result has been really amazing.

Kerrie Quee, Highly Accomplished Teacher: It's a great thing for people to look at no matter how long they've been teaching. For people like me who came in really late to the scene but could still, of course, analyse my own practise, you know, 30 years on, which was really great.

Andrew: Since becoming a Highly Accomplished Teacher many years ago, I've had an enormous amount of opportunities that I potentially wouldn't have had if I had remained as a Proficient Teacher. To be involved in Curriculum Reform, influencing policy. I think one of the things that Highly Accomplished Teachers are is a group of expert teachers who are available to have a voice.

Troy Neale, Lead Teacher: One of the most important things is that it's classroom focused, Highly Accomplished and Lead asks you to stay in the classroom. And the classroom teacher is the most powerful person apart from the principal in a school. So, to have an accreditation system that values the main thing, which is teaching and learning, and keeping a focus on that, benefits our students.

Yao May Wong, Lead Teacher: I have to say at one point I almost gave up. I didn't know what to do, whether to continue or whether to just give up. But having done that whole process, I have to say it's definitely worth it cause it has made a huge impact on my teaching. It not only benefits yourself, but your colleagues, your students and your school as well.

Lili D’Cruz, Lead Teacher: You know, we instil in our kids that growth mindset and not giving up. To actually put that hard work in and not giving up, it's actually modelling to the students that as adults we are actually doing that as well. You know, I had been in the classroom, I have worn many different hats and I was thinking, well, what now? It allowed me to actually reflect and evaluate my moral purpose to teaching and why I was actually in the game of teaching to begin with. It actually put me back in the classroom and sent a message loud and clear to my colleagues that I was leading, that I was talking about quality teaching. At the heart of it, we're all teachers and we're here to make a difference every single day.

Lili D’Cruz, Lead Teacher: HALT is great for teachers for the education sector in general. It encourages and promotes the 37 teaching standards at all four career stages. All colleagues get to engage with the teaching standards at a deeper level and really understand the standards and improve teaching practise.

Mark Bateman, Principal: One of the things that I've seen at our school in terms of practical example and the way Steph's been working with our staff is the building of teams. So that's been critical in terms of professional learning, Steph's growth, the teacher's growth. And what I've seen with those teams is there's a much greater sense of collegiality and willingness to solve problems. Through the HALT accreditation process we're much more willing to engage in solutions for those issues and do that collaboratively with staff who are on board.

Stefanie Thom, Lead Teacher: The biggest epiphany to sit in this meeting where we had myself, Mark, my principal, one of our coordinators who was supporting and supervising a pre-service teacher, was for them to see in our work, her work, his work, the flow on of our teaching standards and the reason why they are there.

Mark Bateman, Principal: There can often be a mindset, I guess, when you're in a leadership position that you need to conduct, you need to be the one that's in charge. And I think HALT accreditation really holds up the idea that leadership can be spread, that it can be shared - and so much more is achieved by that.

Brenda Timp, Principal: Teachers are naturally reflective people, but the language of the professional teaching standards directs teachers to be, again, precise and focused. You know, I think often of the high esteem in which we hold people of other professions. Well, I think these standards give teachers something to be so proud of.

Andrew Cornwall, Highly Accomplished Teacher: You know, change happens at the speed of trust, and these kinds of trusting relationships are often built when we've got Highly Accomplished Teachers working in these kind of mentoring roles means that we can have this practise uplift. My focus is not about standing out and being different, it's about, ‘How am I helping others to build their capacity in that classroom space?’.

Caroline Jarvis, Highly Accomplished Teacher: You're identifying colleagues that you think might be able to go through it, so you can see that in their own practise, they're meeting those Highly Accomplished Standards and then from there you start to sort of grow within your school. And then I know of other schools that have sort of banded together to sort of share between networks to having a Highly Accomplished Teacher in your school really helps to sort of grow that.

Scott Fisk, Principal: You create a culture around teaching and learning. And what I mean by that is that you've got conversations in the staff room that are much more organic because you've got staff who are looking at their practise and looking for opportunities to really dig deep and look at their practise. And it is a little bit contagious to some degree too because those staff room conversations can be about teaching learning. That's what every principal wants to hear.

Andrea Webster, Principal: By providing Lead and Highly Accomplished Teachers the opportunity to run professional learning and lead initiatives within your school, they're then not spending time sitting in a professional learning session where they already may have the knowledge and expertise. Rather they're leading it and providing it to the people who need it. And then that also gives other opportunities for the senior executive to lead and implement other initiatives. And it shares that, again, sustainability and that culture within the school of a love of learning.

Scott Fisk, Principal: And as a school principal, why wouldn't we want Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers in the school? You've got these teachers, teachers who are willing to challenge and critically think about their teaching practise to be better. That's what we want all teachers to be doing.

Brenda Timp, Principal: I think the most important benefit of HALT accreditation is that it affirms teachers in their daily practise. They can see the value of the contribution that they're making to improved student learning and most importantly they are really having a significant impact on their colleagues. It really gives them a sense of being a professional.

Andrew Cornwall, Highly Accomplished teacher: As a teacher, you like to see people grow and that,  that doesn't - it's not just the students in your classroom, that's your colleagues next door. So I think one of the impacts that it can have at a system level is right at that proximal space of the classroom.

Caroline Jarvis, Highly Accomplished Teacher: And not just having the accreditation, but the obvious result of that is having all these really highly effective practitioners that really are working together and supporting their colleagues.

Andrea Webster, Principal: Previously there's there've been myths, I guess really around it, it's too hard. It's not real, but it's not anything extra. It's actually just looking at the work you do, reflecting on it, which we do as a professional anyway, and just documenting that to share it and record it. It brings about constant growth. So just because something's worked in a classroom doesn't mean we stop and we don't listen to the new research. We're ever-evolving, we keep growing and it's sustainable within the school when that's the culture and the expertise that you have.

Scott Fisk, Principal: I think that culture of continuous improvement is demonstrated explicitly through the HALT process. That real mindset of excellence starts to really embed into the school as well. These are the teachers that naturally previously would never have set forward and what they're doing now is they're thinking, OK, well how can I demonstrate my practise at a standard that I'm working towards. As a school principal there is no harm in that. In fact, all it can do is add value to the school.

Brenda Timp, Principal: I think that the more of these teachers we have, the richer our schools will be, the more satisfied our teachers will be because they will have such confidence and know that they are experts, expert educators.

Luke Fulwood, Principal and Lead Teacher: Going through this process, you really sort of used the standards to pinpoint what is it that I want to show particular colleagues in a particular context.

Belinda Lantry, Highly Accomplished Teacher: For me, so many doors have opened since I've done my HALT accreditation at highly accomplished level.

The point where I've thought, you know, I'm really glad I did this is moving from a classroom teacher to an assistant principal role, and this year I'm currently working as a deputy principal at our school.

For me, reflecting, would those doors have opened if I was in my classroom just doing what I do? Maybe not, so I'm really glad I pursued HALT because it has opened a lot of opportunities for me within my school and it's built my own capacity. It's built the capacity of other staff. It's filtered down to the students cause their outcomes are improving. So I'm super glad I did it.

Luke Fulwood, Principal and Lead Teacher: I began to mentor and guide other people through the same process as they worked towards their accreditation.

Being able to see other people have that light bulb moment where they see the value, they understand the Standards, and they also reflect on the fact that, for the most part, it is the work they're already doing, but they know how to evidence that and how to write to it.

Debra Williams, Lead Teacher: One of the challenges that I found was this wealth of documentation that I put together, and it took a significant time to learn to be very selective with my evidence to demonstrate the Standard Descriptors in their entirety because I wanted to show so much and that took time for me.

Carolyn Curtin, Highly Accomplished Teacher: And it is a process yes, isn't it? Because you do have to reflect upon the Standards and you are going to need to refine your practise a little along the way in order to make sure that you're fully demonstrating these Standards, but nothing worth having comes easily.

All: Exactly right. Yes.

Carolyn Curtin, Highly Accomplished Teacher: And through that process that you grow and you become that Highly Accomplished or Lead teacher.

Belinda Lantry, Highly Accomplished Teacher: What I would say to somebody is, put the time aside for you to work on you professionally so that you can keep growing. Because we all are lifelong learners. We say that to our students every day, don't we? And modelling lifelong learning has been so important. 

Carolyn Curtin, Highly Accomplished Teacher: Looking at the impact that I’m making in my school community and going, am I actually having an impact here? You know, I think I've run a really great staff meeting, but have I run a really great staff meeting? Is this actually what the staff need and actively seeking out feedback from my colleagues so that I can go, yes, that hit the mark or, no, that didn't hit the mark, and why is that?

And not only looking at how I'm impacting my colleagues, but also impacting on my students because, sometimes, I think we forget to ask them for their feedback along the way, right? And so if the way that we’re teaching isn't working for them, then they're not going to learn, are they?

So it's made me so much more aware of actively seeking out that feedback from my students as well and encouraging my colleagues to do the same.

Debra Williams, Lead Teacher: And much more reflective.

Carolyn Curtin, Highly Accomplished Teacher: Absolutely, so much more reflective. It refines what it is that that I'm doing in the classroom. And the kids have been really receptive to it as well.

Luke Fulwood, Principal and Lead Teacher: Did it also get you to think about, other than feedback, what, what type of or what range of evidence can I actually use to assess what impact I'm having?

Because I know going through the process, that was a big, sort of, paradigm shift for me. How did you find sort of looking at different ways of getting evidence of your impact?

Carolyn Curtin, Highly Accomplished Teacher: I think, you know, there's that side of evidence where you go, OK, well, this is how I feel it went, this is how I feel my students went.

Or you might look at some data and go, OK, I can see that there's been growth here, but looking at other forms of data as well to check that impact. Can you tell me what you actually thought about this? Is this something that has had impact over time, not just after we've done our couple of week units on multiplication. looking at the long game for impact rather than just that short period of time.

Debra Williams, Lead Teacher: And demonstrated evidence that validates your practise.

Luke Fulwood, Principal and Lead Teacher: To demonstrate all the Standards, you need to be doing things like leading professional learning, modelling your classroom practise. There're a lot of things that that take a little bit of contribution from other people in the school as well.

So I think making sure that you, obviously, get the support from your principal and your DP or your AP or your head teacher, just to make sure that you have access to some of those things that you will need to demonstrate that from the beginning.

Once you get the accreditation, while it is an amazing acknowledgement of you operating at that level at that point in time, I've really enjoyed the ongoing commitment to staying at that level and demonstrating those Standards, and that does take work too.

So it's not just the process, once you get there, you're constantly making sure, you know, going back to the Standards, well, what should I be doing here? And reading and making sure that our daily leadership and our daily practise is reflective of that too. It's hard work, but it's good work.

Belinda Lantry, Highly Accomplished Teacher: It is, absolutely.

Luke Fulwood, Principal and Lead Teacher: A lot of applicants are quite nervous about the site visit or the external observation. How did you guys go with your day?

Carolyn Curtin, Highly Accomplished Teacher: I think getting to the day was probably the hardest part of it. It was doing the preparation. It was working through that anxiety around, someone's coming to watch me and I don't know who they are and what if they say I'm no good? You know, you go through that whole imposter syndrome process.

But when I got to the day, it was the most affirming, encouraging day. The person who came and watched me teach was wonderful and just, you know, seamlessly fit into the day. And it was a really rewarding day.

So once I got through that initial paperwork and worry about it, it was great.

Debra Williams, Lead Teacher: Planning, I think, is the key, isn't it? Planning, being really clear in terms of what the day looks like and having all that documentation to back up what the day is going to run like.

Luke Fulwood, Principal and Lead Teacher: And I agree, it was quite positive.

And one of the things that I took from that day at the very end in the feedback session was not that I had my leadership attested to as part of that process, but celebrated what great things my school was doing. And I was able to put that on show for that person who 

Kerry Quee, Highly Accomplished Teacher: I really enjoyed reading those Standards and seeing my own practise in those Standards. It was a big learning curve.

I loved having a look at where maybe there were some gaps and speaking to other teachers to see where I could engage in some mentoring and really extend myself.

So I saw it really as an excellent career move.

I think the momentum is growing and therefore, you know, our new HALTs really want to pass their knowledge on to others and help that process.

Andrew Cornwall, Highly Accomplished Teacher: We work with others and we work collaboratively, but we also have that sense of shared success that goes along with it that teachers really thrive on.

Kerry Quee, Highly Accomplished Teacher: Imposter syndrome came in a lot when I was doing mine. And even now that I'm mentoring, I still feel that imposter syndrome.

It's not just, oh, I've made it and I'm a HALT and here's all my information. It's more about, I can improve that and I'm going to work on that little part and, you know, make sure I do understand what that Standard is about.

Caroline Jarvis, Highly Accomplished Teacher: If you just sort of chip away at it slowly, there's no urgency. Once I sort of stopped looking at the big and tried to focus on the next thing I wanted to achieve, then I just gradually, gradually, eventually got there.

Lili D’Cruz, Highly Accomplished Teacher: I thought that it was me going through the process when I signed up, but I was surprised at the number of people that rallied around me to support me with the process. It really does lift the teaching standards, but it actually lifts morale in your school communities.

Troy Neale, Highly Accomplished Teacher: When I got to the end point, I felt my principal and deputies rallying around, playing their own role, and having skin in the game and it became a whole school thing and that was fantastic.

Scott Fisk, Principal and Highly Accomplished Teacher: Even as a principal, I have opportunities to grow, I continually develop and I feel this is an opportunity for me to also grow and develop, even if I'm not necessarily on class myself.

Andrea Webster, Principal and Highly Accomplished Teacher: By doing Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher accreditation, it does bring you back to our core business of teaching and learning.

Schools are very busy places and teachers are accountable for a lot of things, but at the end of the day, that's our core business and our moral purpose is for the best for our students and the best outcomes we can give them.