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/Early Years Learning Framework and assessment in a school or service for a period of time during their maintenance period.
PD for continual professional growth
You can support a HALT’s professional growth by providing them access to a range of appropriate quality PD opportunities to meet their PD requirements for maintenance of accreditation.
By engaging in a range of ongoing PD activities, teachers update their knowledge and skills in pedagogy, curriculum/Early Year Learning Framework, learning and assessment, wellbeing and safety, to have the greatest impact on improving student or child learning.
NESA’s Professional Development Framework is a guide for teachers, principal, service directors, and employers to identify appropriate PD activities that best suit teachers’ professional needs.
Verify a teacher's ongoing satisfactory performance
The teacher must complete a HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Form (PDF 197.94KB) and submit it to their principal, service director, or employer within the final 3 months of their maintenance period.
Who should verify
The teacher’s current principal, service director or employer must verify if the teacher’s practice continues to demonstrate the relevant Standards aligned with their level of accreditation.
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 or 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 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.
Review the HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Form
You or your delegate must:
- review the HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Form
- verify if the teacher’s practice continues to demonstrate the relevant Standards aligned with their level of accreditation.
You may consider the professional capabilities of HALT in the Principal/Service Director’s Guide – HALT Accreditation (PDF 219.51KB) to support your judgement as to whether a teacher’s practice continues to demonstrate the relevant Standards.
You may choose to provide comments about the teacher’s practice.
Provide a signed copy of the form to NESA by the end of the teacher’s maintenance period for an accreditation decision. Email the copy to HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.
NESA makes the accreditation decision
The final part of the process is NESA's accreditation decision. We make the decision within 28 days of receiving your verification.
Our decision is based on:
- the teacher’s completed declaration that they have met all the maintenance requirements for the period
- your verification.
Notification of the decision
We 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 NESA online account eTAMS.
Issues with a teacher maintaining their accreditation
Understand the steps you need to take in the following situations:
If you become aware of any issue(s), you must inform the employer (if applicable) and the teacher in writing within 28 days of becoming aware of it.
Inform the teacher of the employer’s obligation to notify us if it is found they do not meet the Standards at the relevant level of accreditation.
The employer’s internal procedures must include information to guide how principals, service directors, or employers must address issues related to a teacher’s practice not meeting the applicable Standards.
At any time during a teacher’s maintenance period, you must follow your employer’s internal procedures to address the issue(s) related to the teacher’s practice not meeting the applicable Standard(s).
Notify the teacher in writing
Before you can verify that the teacher has not maintained their practice at HALT, you must notify the teacher in writing of:
- your reasons, including the Standard Descriptor(s) the teacher has not met
- details of the appropriate and timely support you have provided to the teacher for maintaining their practice in relation to the Standards
- the feedback and support provided to the teacher, which may include intervention strategies or an improvement plan you have implemented to support the teacher and the outcome of the strategies, plan or support
- the teacher’s right to respond to your 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 days’ notice period, you must notify NESA if the issues are not resolved and it is determined that the teacher has not maintained their practice at HALT.
The teacher hasn’t submitted a HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Form
Notify us that you have determined that the teacher has not maintained their practice at the relevant HALT level by email to TAnotifications@nesa.nsw.edu.au. You must provide documentary evidence that you have followed your employer’s internal procedures including the actions described under Notify the teacher in writing.
The teacher has submitted a HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Form
Record your verification in the teacher’s HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Form during the final 3 months of their maintenance period. You must include the reason(s) and provide comments about the teacher’s practice. Email the copy to HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au
We will request evidence that you have followed your employer’s internal procedures. You must provide this upon our request.
If the teacher has worked in your school, service, or workplace for less than 3 months, you must contact their previous principal, service director, or employer before making a verification that they have not maintained their practice. You must seek the teacher’s permission to contact their previous principal, service director, or employer. If the teacher does not give you consent, you should make your verification using the information available to you.
You may only record that you are unable to make a verification for any of the following:
- You have contacted the teacher’s previous principal, service director, or employer (subject to the teacher’s consent) if the teacher has worked at your school or service for less than 3 months
- The teacher has not worked in the school, service or workplace for long enough to allow you to confidently verify whether the teacher continues to maintain their practice at the relevant level of HALT Standards
- Information provided by the teacher’s previous school, service, or employer (where applicable and subject to consent from the teacher) has not assisted you in making a valid and reliable judgement.
Complete the relevant section of the teacher’s HALT Maintenance of Accreditation Form to record that you are unable to make a verification. Include your reasons and email it to us at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.
If you verify that the teacher is not maintaining their practice at the relevant Standards at HALT, we will contact you and the teacher to request further information and documentation. This will be used to inform our accreditation decision and includes:
- details of the feedback and support you have provided to the teacher regarding maintaining their practice to the relevant Standards, including the Standard Descriptors the teacher did not meet
- the intervention strategies and/or improvement plans you or your employer have implemented to support the teacher and the outcome of the strategies or plans.
We will then make an accreditation decision within 28 days of your verification.
14-day written notice to suspend HALT accreditation
If we find that the teacher has failed to maintain their HALT accreditation, we will issue 14 days’ written notice of our intention to suspend their higher-level accreditation. The 14 days’ written notice period includes school holidays and employer shutdown periods.
Final notice to suspend HALT accreditation
If issues remain unresolved or the teacher still has not met the maintenance requirements by the end of the 14-day notice, we will notify you and the teacher of their HALT accreditation suspension.
A teacher whose accreditation is suspended cannot be employed to teach in any registered school or approved centre-based early childhood service.
A NESA officer will provide the teacher with advice about next steps.
The teacher can apply to NESA for an internal review of a decision that they have not maintained their accreditation.
If the teacher is not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review, they can apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for a review of NESA’s decision.
The teacher may return to accreditation at Proficient Teacher if they have met the requirements for maintaining Proficient Teacher.