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Support a teacher maintaining Proficient Teacher accreditation
Employer's internal procedures
Internal procedure responsibilities
As an employer, you are responsible for ensuring your Proficient Teachers maintain their teaching practice to meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards) at Proficient level to continue teaching in NSW schools or services.
This means you must:
- have internal procedures for implementing requirements for maintaining Proficient Teacher accreditation
- provide all teachers with a copy or access to all relevant procedures.
Who is covered by the procedures?
Your procedures for implementing the requirements apply to:
- principals and service directors
- casual, part-time and full-time teachers
- non-school or service based teachers maintaining their Proficient Teacher accreditation
- teachers regularly working in the school placed by a third party, for example an employment agency.
What must the procedures cover?
These internal procedures must include processes to ensure you fulfil your obligations in the following areas.
Support teachers to maintain their practice
Your internal procedures must include processes for:
- providing timely feedback to teachers about their demonstration of practice at the Standards, including where they risk not meeting requirements
- addressing issues related to their practice not maintaining the Standards when they arise during the maintenance period
- addressing concerns about teachers’ professional practice through appropriate support.
Notify teachers at risk of failing to maintain their practice
Your internal procedures should ensure teachers at risk of not meeting the relevant Standards are:
- advised of your obligation to notify NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)
- notified after a completed or substantially completed performance process
- given 28 days to respond to the notice before a principal, service director or employer notifies NESA of the relevant decision.
Your notice to the teacher must include:
- reasons for the decision, including the Standard Descriptors not met
- details of the appropriate and timely support and advice given to the teacher about maintaining practice at the Standards
- details of feedback and support given to the teacher, which may include intervention strategies or an improvement plan
- details of the outcome of those strategies, plans and support
- teacher’s right to respond to the written notice within 28 days and address the issues.
Management of teacher accreditation matters
Your internal procedures must ensure:
- conflicts of interest are managed
- complaints and grievances are managed
- records related to notices that a teacher has not maintained their practice at Proficient Teacher are kept and provided to NESA on request.