Maintain Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher (HALT) accreditation

Submit your HALT maintenance report

Listen

On this page

Complete your HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Report

Download and complete the HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Report template (PDF 386.42KB).

Submit your report to your principal/service director within the final 3 months of your maintenance period.

Your report needs to:

be between 2500 and 5000 words
include an overview of the context and background of your practice that demonstrates impact on both:
- student/child learning outcomes
- the practice of your colleagues
include at least 3 examples of impact on learning outcomes of students/children and impact on the practice of colleagues
describe how your practice has been informed and improved by professional development activities over the maintenance period.

You must sign, date, and keep a copy of the report.

Provide referee details

You will need to include 3 to 5 referees with your report.

Your referee list must be made up of:

the principal/service director you currently work with
colleagues who can attest that you have applied current knowledge and depth of practice throughout your maintenance period.

Make sure the above people:

agree to being a referee
understand what is required.

NESA will contact at least one of your referees before making the accreditation decision.

Submit your report

Submit your HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Report to your principal/service director when you have met all the requirements.

You should submit your report to your principal/service director by email.

Your principal/service director must review the report and attest that your:

maintenance report is an accurate reflection of your teaching practice and
ongoing performance is satisfactory.

Your principal/service director will then email a signed copy of your report to NESA at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Principals maintaining HALT

If you are a principal maintaining HALT accreditation you cannot self-attest or act as a referee on your own behalf. Your line manager can review your report, make the attestation, and act as one of your referees if they are accredited at Proficient Teacher or above.

If your line manager is not accredited, email NESA at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Issues that may affect your accreditation

Your principal/service director may raise concerns about your ability to meet HALT maintenance requirements. Understand what to do in the following situations.

Your principal/service director identifies an issue with your practice

The principal/service director must inform you and your employer in writing within 28 days of becoming aware of any issues. Work with your principal/service director to resolve the issues.

Your principal/service director can attest and advise NESA at any time during your maintenance period that your practice does not meet the Standards for HALT.

Failure to submit your maintenance within your timeframe

If you are due to submit your maintenance but haven't met your PD requirements, you can:

discuss your professional development goals with your principal/service director
develop a plan for how you can work towards meeting your PD requirements.

If you are still unable to meet your PD requirements within your timeframe, you can apply to NESA for an extension (PDF 223.05KB).

You may only apply for an extension in the final 6 months before your due date and you will need to provide evidence of the grounds for your request.

Grounds for an extension include:

illness and misadventure
carer responsibilities
undertaking further study
other applicable professional or individual circumstances.

Your principal/service director intends to attest unsatisfactory performance

You will receive written notification if your principal/service director intends to attest that either your:

performance is unsatisfactory
report does not accurately reflect your practice at HALT.

What will happen:

Written notification from your principal/service director will outline the reason(s) and any Standard Descriptors that you have not met. You have the right to respond to the written notice within 28 days and address the issues identified.
The principal/service director will review your written response and make an attestation.
NESA will review all relevant documentation and make an accreditation decision. We will advise you of our decision.

If you have worked at the school/service for less than 3 months, your principal/service director must contact your previous school/service (subject to your consent) before attesting that you have not maintained your practice in relation to the Standards.

Your principal/service director is unable to make an attestation about your HALT practice

Circumstances

In limited circumstances, your principal/service director will advise NESA that they are unable to make an attestation about your HALT accreditation.

These circumstances are:

you have not worked in the school/service for long enough to allow the principal/service director to confidently make a judgement about your practice
information provided by your previous school/service has not assisted the principal/service director in making a valid and reliable judgement.

If you have worked at the school/service for less than 3 months, your principal/service director must contact your previous school/service (subject to your consent) before recording that they are unable to make an attestation about your practice.

If you do not give consent for your principal/service director to contact your previous principal/service director, they will likely be unable to make an attestation.

What will happen:

The principal/service director will send you a written notice stating they are unable to make an accreditation attestation.
You should read the comments and discuss how you can address the reasons the principal/service director has given for not being able to make an attestation.
You will be able to resubmit your report within your timeframe or you can contact NESA for further advice.

If you are close to, or have reached, the end of your maximum timeframe, you may have grounds to apply to NESA for an extension (PDF 223.05KB).

Returning to a lower level of accreditation

You can return to Proficient Teacher level at any stage. Lead Teachers may also nominate to return to Highly Accomplished if they were previously accredited at this level. To do so you must advise NESA in writing.

Your maintenance period end date will not change if you return to a lower level of accreditation. You must continue to meet the maintenance of accreditation requirements for your new level.

Related information

Download or print

Download Maintaining Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher Accreditation Procedure: Information for K–12 teachers PDF 167.73KB Current as of Friday, 16 August 2024.

Download NESA Professional Development Log PDF 318.07KB Current as of Tuesday, 20 August 2024.

Print this page

Request accessible format of this publication.