Support a teacher applying for HALT accreditation

Discuss the teacher’s readiness and eligibility

Discuss with the teacher their intention and readiness to apply for HALT accreditation.

In your discussion, you can encourage and support the teacher to attend a NESA workshop for prospective HALT applicants.

A teacher cannot open an application without the principal or service director verifying the teacher's eligibility.

The teacher must complete the mandatory HALT orientation course available on NESA Learning.

Once they have completed the orientation course, you will be notified in your NESA online account (eTAMS) to verify:

• that they have discussed with you their intention to apply
• their eligibility.

Eligibility requirements

You will need to verify that a teacher is eligible to apply for HALT.

They must be:

• an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• accredited at Proficient Teacher or above
• assessed as satisfactory in either:
  • 2 of their most recent annual performance assessments (for Highly Accomplished)
  • 3 annual performance assessments (for Lead Teacher).

Casual teachers

Casual or part-time teachers may work across several schools or services. They will need to nominate the principal or service director of 1 school or service to verify their eligibility.

Provide a supportive environment

Principals and service directors play a crucial role in establishing and maintaining a supportive professional environment for HALT applicants.

Your school or service's organisational structure, roles and responsibilities provide the opportunities for teachers to engage in HALT-level practice.

HALT accreditation is a deeply reflective professional undertaking for each applicant. It is best enabled by a collaborative professional growth culture.

If the applicant has completed the online preliminary assessment, you may:

• encourage them to reflect on their practice against the Standards for either Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher and select the appropriate level
• identify areas within the Standards where teaching practice may require further development.

You, or your delegate, will be required to complete at least 1 internal observation of the applicant teaching students in a classroom or learning environment.

Apply a 4-step process to observations

We recommend the 4-step process for internal observations of practice.

1. Pre-observation reflection by the teacher

The applicant will consider their practice. They will reflect on which Standard Descriptors they intend to be the focus for observation.

2. Pre-observation discussion between you and the teacher

At this discussion you will come to an agreed understanding of:

• which Standard Descriptors at the relevant career stage will be observed
• how the practice and the impact will be made visible during the internal observation.

3. Internal observation of teaching practice

You will record visible examples of teaching practice, and the impact of practice, that align to the agreed Standard Descriptors.

4. Post-observation discussion and feedback

You will discuss the evidence demonstrating the agreed Standard Descriptors you have collected. Give this feedback in relation to what you saw and heard during the observation.

The observation report

We recommend you complete your report using NESA's Teacher accreditation observation report template (PDF 960KB).

When writing the observation report you should:

• identify which Standard Descriptors were the focus of the observation
• describe the practice you observed and the applicant’s behaviour or actions
• include your evaluative comments about the observed teaching practice and impact in relation to the selected Standard Descriptors. You may also comment on additional Standard Descriptors if observed.

Purpose

The site visit is an opportunity for the teacher to demonstrate nominated Standard Descriptors. They do this through teaching and, where relevant, non-teaching sessions.

NESA will organise an External Assessor to conduct the site visit following a request by the teacher. NESA trains an External Assessor to provide an independent, objective review of the teacher’s teaching practice against the Standards at the nominated career stage.

Pathways

There are 2 pathways for a teacher to complete a site visit:

• onsite
• recorded.

The requirements for both are the same, and you should help the teacher decide which pathway is appropriate.

Support the teacher’s plan or organisation of their site visit and be aware of the schedule for the day.

Process

During the site visit the External Assessor:

• will observe 3 sessions of practice. Two of these must be of the applicant teaching students or children. All sessions must occur on the same day.
• will have a professional discussion with the applicant to provide feedback on the observation of their practice. This is aligned to the nominated Standard Descriptors.
• may engage in a professional discussion with up to 2 colleagues if the applicant has nominated them.
• will conduct a structured interview of up to 30 minutes with you. You should prepare for the discussion by reviewing the evaluative questions in Appendix 1 of Principal/Service Director Guide (PDF 382.03KB). In the case of a recorded observation, the External Assessor will contact you to arrange a suitable time to complete the interview.

Early childhood service site visits

In an early childhood context an applicant can nominate a teacher colleague to participate in the structured interview with the External Assessor if their Service Director is not accredited at Proficient Teacher.

The colleague must be either:

• from the same service or their employer or
• a teacher in their professional network who has first-hand knowledge of the applicant’s teaching practice and impact.

Changing the structured interview date

If you need to change the date of your structured interview with the External Assessor, contact NESA as soon as possible to make alternative arrangements. Include contact details and alternative times.

The alternative interview time needs to be within 48 hours of the day of the site visit. Email NESA at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

Your contact details and alternate times will be sent to the External Assessor so they can contact you by phone.

NESA-trained HALT Assessors assess each of the 3 modules. Principals and service directors have no responsibility for assessing modules.

NESA will make the accreditation decision based on the:

• 3 HALT Module Reports
• External Assessor’s Site Visit Report.

NESA makes the accreditation decision within 28 days of the teacher submitting their third module, or within 28 days of their revisions, if applicable.

If the teacher’s application is successful we will notify the teacher. We will issue a certificate to the teacher and they will start their first maintenance period.

Recognition and support

We encourage you to recognise and share the teacher’s achievement of HALT accreditation within your school or service. This helps cultivate a culture of quality teaching and professional excellence.

The teacher will now begin to maintain accreditation at HALT. You will need to provide:

• continued access to opportunities for the teacher to participate in professional activities aligned with their level of accreditation
• opportunities for the teacher to make significant contributions to the professional learning of other teachers and colleagues in the school or service.