Professional development requirements
To maintain accreditation, teachers need to participate in professional development. Here is what you need to know about your professional development requirements.
Your professional development requirements have changed
Effective from 16 August 2024 the professional development (PD) requirements for teachers maintaining Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher accreditation have been changed.
NESA has removed the Accredited and Elective PD categories to give teachers more flexibility in completing their required 100 hours of PD.
You can continue to log PD in eTAMS or offline and submit your maintenance of accreditation when due and once you complete 100 hours of PD. All PD activities already logged will count towards your required PD hours.
Find out more about these changes and watch our video for more information.
Maintaining accreditation with professional development
Completing professional development (PD) helps teachers keep up to date with relevant content, skills and pedagogy. It supports teachers’ professional growth and improved student/child outcomes.
To maintain accreditation, you must take part in ongoing PD related to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards). Teachers accredited at Proficient, Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher have the same requirements and must complete 100 hours of PD in each maintenance period.
Professional development
The NESA Professional Development Framework (the Framework) has been developed to help you to select and engage in effective professional development activities that best suit your professional needs and individual context.
Professional development is any activity where you learn new skills or practices that are related to the Standards. Roles and responsibilities that are part of your duties as a teacher are not counted as PD.
For example, you cannot record:
- programming and planning
- administrative staff meetings
- event coordination and excursions
- writing student/child reports
- marking and moderating
- extra-curricular commitments or planning
- coaching or leadership of student/child initiatives
- creation of, or collaboration on individual learning plans
- parent/carer-teacher interviews and meetings
- trade union training
- courses unrelated to teaching or curriculum.
Recording your PD
You must keep a record of your PD activities for 12 months after you have submitted your maintenance, in case of an audit. Recording your PD log in your online NESA account (eTAMS) is the fastest way to submit your PD log if you are audited.
Follow these steps to log your PD in eTAMS:
- Login to eTAMS using your NESA number
- Select the ‘Professional Development Log’ option on your dashboard
- Click on the ‘Add PD Activity’ button
- Answer the questions on ‘Add New Activity’ page and select ‘Add Activity’ once completed
- This activity will be added to your PD log and your total PD hours will be calculated
Alternatively, you can keep a personal record. This can be achieved via completion of the NESA PD log template (PDF 318.07KB).
In your PD log, you must record the following required information:
- date of PD activity
- PD activity type
- name of PD activity
- Standard(s) addressed
- duration of the activity
- provider name (if applicable)
- priority area (if applicable).
PD log audit
NESA completes quality assurance checks on teachers’ PD logs related to the Standards. NESA’s quality assurance program aims to identify the types and frequency of PD that teachers engage in to help develop resources that promote best practice PD, system improvements and inform policy considerations.
Types of audit
As part of the quality assurance checks, we audit a random sample of teachers’ PD logs on a quarterly basis. NESA will conduct 2 types of audits with the selected teachers:
- a monitoring audit: where you will receive 6-months' notice to submit your PD log, giving you time to prepare and finalise your records before your maintenance of accreditation is due.
- a compliance audit: where you will receive 28-days' notice to submit your PD log after your maintenance of accreditation decision.
What will you need to provide if you are selected for audit?
You will be notified by email. You will need to confirm that you have:
- a personal PD log (by emailing it as an attachment to NESA), or
- confirm in an email to NESA that your PD has been recorded in eTAMS.
Attendance certificates or PD evaluations are not required. NESA only needs the PD log details.
What NESA will analyse
NESA will review PD logs to confirm:
- the types of PD undertaken and how you are engaging in professional development
- completion of the minimum 100 hours of PD within the maintenance period
- alignment of logged activities with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
If your recorded total appears to be short of the requirements, NESA will check for any additional evidence already submitted (for example, provider-uploaded participation) and update your records where applicable. We will work with you and your principal/service director to help you meet requirements. This may include completing additional PD or targeted support.
If, after this support, you do not meet the requirements or you do not engage with the audit, NESA may suspend your accreditation, which affects your eligibility to teach in NSW schools and services. NESA will inform your school/service and employer that you are at risk of suspension or cancellation.
Find a professional development course
NESA delivers a range of courses to support teachers. Teachers can explore PD and other professional development courses on NESA Learning.
NESA has created a list of recognised PD providers who have at least one active course that relates to the Standards.
Employers are responsible for ensuring their teachers have access to PD. Refer to your employer for more information on accessing relevant PD.