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Maintain Proficient Teacher accreditation
Receive NESA's accreditation decision
NESA's accreditation decision
The final part of the process is the accreditation decision.
NESA makes this decision within 28 days after you submit your maintenance and the decision is based on your declaration that you have met your PD requirements.
Starting a new maintenance period
NESA will notify you of the accreditation decision by email.
Where NESA decides that you have maintained your accreditation, you will start a new maintenance period the day after your current maintenance period ends.
Issues that may affect your accreditation
The following information details what factors may affect a teacher's accreditation and what the processes and obligations are.
Your principal, service director or employer identifies an issue with your practice
Your principal, service director or employer must provide you with support in line with the employer’s internal procedures and as part of the employer’s performance process.
This includes:
- providing you with timely feedback about the issues identified with your practice at the Proficient Teacher Standards
- addressing issues related to your practice not maintaining the applicable Standards as and when they arise at any point during the maintenance period
- addressing any concerns relating to your ongoing professional practice through appropriate support.
Work with your principal, service director or employer to resolve the issue(s) they have identified.
Your principal, service director or employer determines that you have not maintained your practice at Proficient Teacher
If your principal, service director or employer identifies that you are at risk of not maintaining your practice at Proficient Teacher following the completion or substantial completion of a performance process, they must:
- advise you of the employer’s obligation to notify NESA if grounds for suspension and revocation of your teacher accreditation are determined
- notify you of the determination following a completed/substantially completed performance process if you are found to not meet the Standards at Proficient Teacher
- give you 28 days to respond to the notice before they notify NESA of the relevant decision.
The notification to you must include:
- the reasons for the principal, service director or employer's decision, including the Standard Descriptors that your practice does not meet
- details of the appropriate and timely support and advice provided to you regarding maintaining practice at the Standards
- the feedback and support provided to you, which may include intervention strategies or an improvement plan to support you, and the outcome of implementing those strategies/plans/support
- your right to respond to the written notice within 28 days and address the issues identified.
Steps your principal, service director or employer will take
The following outlines what your principal, service director or employer will do when notifying NESA that you have not maintained your practice at Proficient Teacher.
1
Employer’s performance process
Employers must provide appropriate and timely support to a teacher to meet the specific Standard Descriptor(s) identified as an issue in the teacher’s practice.
A substantially completed performance process relates specifically to the circumstance when the:
- employer has provided the relevant support to address identified issues
- employer has determined that the teacher’s practice does not meet the Standards at Proficient Teacher, and
- teacher resigns prior to having fully completed the performance process and the employer accepts that resignation.
2
Notification to NESA
Following the completion or substantial completion of the performance process, if it is determined that you have not maintained your practice at Proficient Teacher, your principal, service director or employer must notify NESA of the decision by:
- providing written notification to NESA of the decision within 28 days of the date of the decision
- including in the written notification evidence relating to your failure to maintain the Standards.
The notification can happen at any time during your maintenance period.
Evidence that accompanies the notification to NESA (Section 11.5.1 of the TA Manual) must include:
- reasons for the decision that you fail to meet the Standards
- evidence that you failed to demonstrate that your teaching practice continues to meet the applicable Standards/Standard Descriptors at any time during your maintenance period
- evidence that you have been given written notice and 28 days to respond to your principal, service director or employer’s judgement that you have failed to maintain your practice at the Standards, including any response they received from you
- evidence that you have been provided with appropriate and timely support and advice about maintaining practice at the Standards, in line with the employer’s internal procedures for maintenance of accreditation.
3
Relevant decision
A ‘relevant decision’ in relation to a teacher’s performance is a decision to:
- Dismiss or place employment conditions on a teacher because of the teacher's failure to demonstrate that their teaching practice continues to meet the applicable Standards.
- Accept the resignation of a teacher prior to the substantial completion of a performance process and/or taking disciplinary action that could lead to the termination of the teacher’s employment for failing to demonstrate that their teaching practice continues to meet the applicable Standards.
NESA decides that you have not maintained your practice at Proficient Teacher
Where notified by a principal, service director or employer that your practice does not meet the Standards, NESA:
- may contact your principal, service director or employer and request further information or documentation to ensure due process has been followed and to inform our decision
- will review the evidence provided by your employer and make an accreditation decision.
If NESA finds that you have failed to maintain your accreditation, NESA will issue 14 days’ written notice of an intention to revoke your accreditation.
You can respond to the notice and provide relevant information to inform NESA’s decision.
You can also apply to NESA for an internal review.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review, you can apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for a review of NESA’s decision.
Definition of a ‘service director’
A ‘service director’ is a teacher who:
- is accredited at Proficient Teacher or above
- has seniority over the teachers whose practice they are making an accreditation recommendation or attestation for.
They may not have a ’service director’ title. The service director function may be assigned to an accredited teacher in the same service or delegated to another teacher within the employer.
If there is no one to carry out the service director role, the employer must contact NESA.