Support a teacher maintaining HALT accreditation
Highly Accomplished or Lead Teachers (HALT) must continue to show exemplary teaching practices. Learn how principals, service directors and employers can best support teachers maintaining HALT accreditation.
Steps to support teachers maintaining HALT accreditation
The following steps show how principals, service directors and employers can support teachers to maintain HALT accreditation.
Support teachers to demonstrate consistent practice
Support HALTs to ensure their practice continues to meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards) for:
HALTs must engage in a range of professional activities and practices in the normal course of their work.
Relevant activities include:
- critical reflection of their own practice
- sharing exemplary teaching practices and supporting the professional growth of colleagues
- implementing evidence-based best practices that maximise learning opportunities for students/children
- ongoing engagement in professional development (PD)
- engaging in the delivery of curriculum and assessment in a school/service for a period of time during their maintenance period.
There is no requirement for a specified number of hours or teaching load.
Verify and attest
a. Teachers complete and submit their report
The teacher needs to draft a
File
Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) Maintenance of Accreditation Report (PDF 323.45KB) .They must then submit it to their principal, service director or employer within the final 3 months of their maintenance timeframe.
b. Appoint a delegate if required
The teacher’s current principal, service director or employer must verify and attest for the teacher.
Principals, service directors and employers who are not accredited at Proficient Teacher or above must appoint a delegate who is both:
- an employee in the school/service
- accredited at Proficient Teacher or above.
You cannot delegate this responsibility to a third party outside the school, early childhood service, or employer.
You must advise NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) of the delegation at tsaprincipalenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.
If you are accredited at Proficient Teacher or above:
- While the TA Manual allows you to delegate your responsibility to another accredited teacher in your school, service or employer, this feature is currently in development and is not yet available.
- Your employer will have internal procedures about whether you can delegate this function.
c. Review the HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Report
You need to:
- attest that the teacher’s maintenance report is an accurate reflection of their teaching practice
- verify that their ongoing performance is satisfactory.
You may choose to provide comments about the teacher’s practice.
Email a signed copy of your attestation on the teacher’s report to NESA by the end of the teacher’s maintenance period to HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.
The teacher will nominate 3 to 5 referees in their report, which must include you as their principal, service director or employer.
Learn what to do if you can't make a positive attestation.
Await NESA's accreditation decision
The final part of the process is NESA's accreditation decision. NESA makes the decision within 28 days of receiving your attestation.
NESA’s decision is based on:
- the teacher’s completed
File
Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) Maintenance of Accreditation Report (PDF 323.45KB) - your attestation
- the teacher’s record of NESA Accredited PD in their NESA online account (eTAMS).
a. NESA contacts the HALT’s referee
NESA will contact at least one of the teacher’s nominated referees when making the maintenance decision.
If we consider making a decision that does not align with your attestation, we will contact you to discuss the attestation before making a decision. If necessary, we will also contact the teacher for a discussion.
b. Notification of the decision
NESA will notify the teacher of our accreditation decision by email. The teacher will start a new maintenance period the day after their current period ends.
You will be able to view their accreditation status in your eTAMS.
Issues with a teacher maintaining their accreditation
Understand the steps you need to take in the following situations:
You must inform the employer (if applicable) and the teacher in writing within 28 days of becoming aware of an issue that may affect their accreditation.
Written notices cannot be sent in your eTAMS. Refer to your employer’s internal procedures for how to do this.
Your employer’s internal procedures will guide you on addressing issues related to a teacher’s practice not meeting the applicable Standards.
Before the teacher has submitted their report
If the teacher has not yet submitted their HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Report, follow your employer’s internal procedures to address the issue(s).
You can then contact NESA for advice on how to record your attestation.
After the teacher has submitted their report
If the teacher has already submitted their report, you must notify them in writing before you can attest that the report does not accurately reflect their practice.
You must notify them of:
- your reasons, including the Standard Descriptor(s) the teacher does not meet
- details of the appropriate and timely support you have provided, such as:
- intervention strategies or an improvement plan you have implemented
- the outcome of the strategies/plan/support
- the teacher’s right to respond to the notice within 28 days to address the issues identified.
If the teacher responds to your written notice, you will need to consider their response to the issue(s) raised.
After the end of the 28-day notice period:
- You can record your attestation in the teacher’s HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Report. Include your reasons, at any point up to the end of the teacher’s maintenance period. You must provide comments about the teacher’s practice.
- NESA will request evidence that you have followed your employer’s internal procedures. This must be provided on request.
If the teacher has worked in your school or service for less than 3 months, you must contact their previous principal, service director or employer (subject to the teacher’s consent) before making an attestation that the teacher has not maintained their practice. If the teacher does not give you consent, make your attestation using the information available to you.
You may only record that you are unable to make an attestation if:
- you have, subject to consent from the teacher, contacted their previous principal, service director or employer (if the teacher has worked at your school or service for less than 3 months)
- the teacher has not worked in the school or service for long enough to allow you to confidently verify their performance or determine whether their report is an accurate reflection of their practice
- information provided by the teacher’s previous school has not helped you to make a valid and reliable judgement.
To record that you are unable to make an attestation, complete Section 3 of the teacher’s HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Report.
Include your reasons and email the report to NESA at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.
If you attest that a HALT’s ongoing performance is unsatisfactory and/or their report does not accurately reflect the teacher’s practice, NESA will:
- contact all the teacher’s nominated referees
- contact you and the teacher to request further information and documentation to inform the decision including:
- details of the feedback and support you have provided to the teacher regarding maintaining their practice in relation to the Standards, including the Standard Descriptors the teacher did not meet
- the intervention strategies and/or improvement plans you have implemented to support the teacher and the outcome of the strategies/plans.
We will then make an accreditation decision within 28 days of your attestation.
If we find that the teacher has failed to maintain their HALT accreditation, NESA will issue 14 days’ written notice of an intention to suspend their higher-level accreditation. The 14 days include school holidays and employer shutdown periods.
Next steps
A NESA officer will provide the teacher with further advice about next steps.
These include:
- applying to NESA for an internal review of the decision
- applying to NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for a review of NESA’s decision, if unsatisfied with the result of internal review
- returning to accreditation at Proficient Teacher if they meet the maintenance requirements at that level.