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This section applies to all teachers with active Proficient Teacher accreditation in NSW. Teachers accredited at Proficient Teacher have already demonstrated their practice meets the Standards. The focus of maintaining Proficient Teacher is to stay up to date with professional practice by meeting professional development (PD) requirements. Teachers who meet PD requirements will remain accredited at Proficient Teacher unless grounds for suspension or revocation of their accreditation arise.
To maintain accreditation at Proficient Teacher a teacher must:
Teachers maintaining accreditation at Proficient Teacher must participate in ongoing PD that relates to the Standards at Proficient Teacher or above. By the end of each maintenance period, Proficient Teachers must:
Any NESA Accredited PD a teacher completes in an optional priority area contributes to their minimum NESA Accredited PD requirement.
Teachers who have completed Elective PD towards the minimum 100 hours required for their maintenance period must retain their Elective PD log for 12 months after the end of their maintenance period and provide their log to NESA within 28 days,5 if requested in the event of an audit6.
In the final three months of each maintenance period, a Proficient Teacher must verify in their NESA online account (eTAMS)7 that:
The employer must have internal procedures to address issues relating to a teacher’s practice as and when they arise (see Section 14.7), including advice to the teacher of the employer’s obligation to notify NESA where grounds for suspension or revocation have been determined in line with Section 11.
If a principal/service director determines that a teacher has not maintained their practice at the Standards following a completed process, the principal/service director or employer must:
If a teacher fails to maintain their practice at the Standards for Proficient Teacher, a principal/service director or employer cannot notify NESA of the decision unless the principal/service director has notified the teacher of the issues with their practice, including:
Where a teacher has met all maintenance requirements outlined in Section 5.1 by the end of a maintenance period, NESA will make an accreditation decision that they have maintained their accreditation. The teacher will start a new maintenance period the day after their current period ends8.
A Proficient Teacher will fail to maintain their accreditation if:
A teacher fails to meet the PD requirements if they:
Where a teacher fails to meet their PD requirements, NESA will issue 14 days’ written notice10 of an intention to suspend their accreditation, in line with Section 11.9.
Where a principal/service director or employer notifies NESA that a teacher’s practice does not continue to meet the Standards in line with Section 5.3, NESA will:
If NESA finds that the teacher has failed to maintain their accreditation, NESA will:
Teachers employed on a full-time basis have five years to complete maintenance requirements. Teachers employed on a casual or part-time basis have seven years to complete maintenance requirements, in recognition of the nature of their employment11.
Teachers who have been limited in their opportunity to meet the requirements for maintenance by the end of their timeframe may apply for an extension in the final six months of their maintenance period, and as soon as possible within the final six months. Teachers must apply in their NESA online account (eTAMS), providing evidence of the grounds for their request. Grounds for an extension to a teacher’s maintenance period may include:
1. A list of Accredited PD is published on NESA’s Events page.
2. Transition arrangements for PD requirements apply to some teachers and are published on NESA's Maintenance transition arrangements page.
3. A list of appropriate activities that may be recorded as Elective PD and an optional Elective PD log template are published on NESA's Professional development requirements page.
4. A template Elective PD log is available on NESA's Professional development requirements page.
6. Any request for a teacher to provide their Elective PD log to NESA will be made within 12 months following the end of the teacher’s previous maintenance period.
7. Non-school/service based teachers who want to maintain must contact NESA to finalise their maintenance if they are not employed by the NSW Department of Education, Catholic Schools NSW/Dioceses, the Association of Independent Schools of NSW, the NSW Teachers Federation or the Independent Education Union (NSW/ACT).
8. Pre-2004 teachers who were accredited on 1 January 2018 and whose maintenance period ends between 31 December 2022 and 31 December 2023 or between 31 December 2024 and 31 December 2025 will start their second maintenance period the day after NESA decides they have maintained their accreditation. This only applies to pre-2004 teachers with a maintenance due date between 31 December 2022 and 31 December 2023 or between 31 December 2024 and 31 December 2025 and only for the first maintenance period. Early childhood teachers who were accredited in 2016 with a maintenance due date of 17 July 2023 will start their second maintenance period the day after NESA decides they have maintained their accreditation. This only applies to early childhood teachers accredited in 2016 with a maintenance due date of 17 July 2023 and only for the first maintenance period.
10. The 14-day written notice period includes school holidays and employer shutdown periods.
11. This includes teachers who have been employed on a casual or part-time basis at any point during their current maintenance period. Teachers must provide NESA with evidence of casual or part-time employment to adjust their timeframe.
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