Changes to professional development requirements
Effective from 16 August 2024 the professional development (PD) requirements for teachers maintaining Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher accreditation have been changed.
Who the changes affect
All NSW teachers who are maintaining their accreditation at Proficient Teacher, Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher (HALT) are affected by this change.
What has changed
Effective immediately, NESA has removed Accredited and Elective PD categories to give teachers more flexibility in completing their required 100 hours of professional development.
Under the changes, you can choose PD that better meets your needs and contexts.
The changes acknowledge the trust in and professionalism of NSW teachers, who typically complete far in excess of their required 100 hours of PD across a variety of activity types.
You no longer need to:
- complete a minimum amount of Accredited PD
- complete PD from across the 4 mandatory priority areas
- write an evaluation for any completed Accredited PD courses
- align PD activities against the 37 Standard Descriptors, instead aligning it to one or more of the 7 Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (the Standards).
You can now use all employer mandated training aligned to the Standards towards your 100 hours.
NESA has developed the NESA Professional Development Framework to help you select, implement and reflect on effective PD activities.
The requirements for Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers are now the same. Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers no longer have minimum professional commitment requirements.
What remains the same
You still need to complete 100 hours of PD to maintain your accreditation.
Any PD hours that you have already completed, whether Accredited or Elective, will contribute towards your current maintenance cycle.
While no longer mandatory, priority areas continue to exist to help you focus on your ongoing professional development by identifying the components of effective teaching. Employers may choose areas of priority for their staff, but these decisions are made at a school/early childhood service and system level.
You must continue to record your PD. You can keep this record in various ways, such as in your NESA online account, our PD log template, daybook or a format that best suits you. You must retain your PD log for 12 months after you finalise your maintenance and provide this to us if asked.
NESA is currently re-developing eTAMS to reflect these changes. You can continue to log PD in eTAMS or offline and submit your maintenance of accreditation when due and once you complete 100 hours of PD. All PD activities already logged will count towards your required PD hours.
Taken from the NSW Goverment Website on September 16, 2024.
