Support a teacher applying for immediate accreditation
With the support of their principal or service director, eligible returning teachers can follow a streamlined process to apply for Proficient Teacher. Learn how principals and service directors can support teachers to apply.
Steps to support teachers applying for immediate accreditation
As a school principal, you can recommend that an eligible returning teacher be immediately accredited at Proficient Teacher level.
Check eligibility requirements
Eligible teachers should discuss their intention to apply for immediate accreditation with you. Before they apply, you need to check they are eligible.
The teacher must currently teach at your school. They must also have previously been accredited or qualified to be accredited at Proficient Teacher level.
They will then submit the completed form and supporting documentation to you, which confirms they are eligible.
Determine if they meet the Proficient Teacher Standards
Before you make your recommendation, you need to consider:
- whether the teacher’s current practice meets the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards) for Proficient Teacher as observed through a range of professional activities
- their previous level of accreditation
- the length of their time away from teaching
- the length of their employment as a teacher before their absence
- the nature of any employment undertaken during their absence from teaching in NSW, including employment as a teacher
- any relevant further tertiary study completed during their absence
- other appropriate professional or personal circumstances.
You can then make a recommendation about their immediate accreditation at Proficient Teacher level to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).
Make a recommendation
You may want to contact the teacher’s previous school (subject to their consent) to help you make a valid and reliable judgement.
You can consider making an ‘unable to make a recommendation’ if:
- the teacher does not consent to you contacting their previous school
- you don’t have enough evidence that they are working at the Proficient Teacher Standards.
You need to make a recommendation within 28 days of the teacher submitting the application to you.
Make your recommendation on their application form, sign and date it, then email it to us at ptreports@nesa.nsw.edu.au. We only process applications sent from your principal email address.
NESA makes the accreditation decision
The teacher receives confirmation of your recommendation to immediately accredit them at Proficient Teacher level within 28 days of you submitting their application.
We make accreditation decisions based on your recommendation and the teacher’s supporting documents.
If the teacher is immediately accredited, we will issue them a Proficient Teacher certificate. They begin their first maintenance of accreditation period on the day we make the accreditation decision.
When you do not recommend accreditation
There may be some situations in which you cannot recommend immediate accreditation.
If you intend to make a recommendation not to immediately accredit the teacher, you must give them 28 days’ written notice. The notice must include:
- your reasons for the intended recommendation
- the Standard Descriptors they failed to demonstrate.
The teacher has 28 days to respond to this notice in writing. They may wish to discuss this with you to determine if additional supporting documents or evidence are required.
At the end of the 28-day notice period, if your recommendation remains to not immediately accredit the teacher, you must:
- record this recommendation, with reasons, on the teacher’s application form
- email the form to ptreports@nesa.nsw.edu.au from your principal email address.
Within 28 days of receiving your recommendation, we make the accreditation decision.
If you are unable to make a recommendation, you need to:
- record that you are unable to make a recommendation on the teacher’s application form
- include your reasons on the form
- provide a copy of the form to the teacher
- email it to us at ptreports@nesa.nsw.edu.au from your principal email address.
You can only record that you are unable to make a recommendation if:
- the teacher has not worked in the school long enough to allow you to confidently judge their practice
- you contacted the teacher’s previous school and this has not helped you make a valid and reliable judgement
- the teacher did not give you consent to contact their previous principal and you don’t have sufficient evidence that they are working at the Proficient Teacher Standards.
Where appropriate, support the teacher to continue developing their practice through:
- professional reflection
- guidance and feedback from colleagues
- observations of their practice
- other professional activities.
They can submit another application for immediate accreditation later, or follow the process to achieve Proficient Teacher accreditation.