The Teacher Accreditation Amendment Act 2021 (NSW) (Act) commenced in November 2021. It introduced several changes to the way that teachers are accredited in NSW. The most important change for non-government schools is that, from 29 November 2022, the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) will make all decisions about teacher accreditation, replacing Teacher Accreditation Authorities. A new manual of teacher accreditation (Manual) has recently been published. This article will give a brief outline of the main sections of the Manual as well as how it treats some core concepts relating to teacher accreditation, including suitability to teach and revocation of accreditation.

Who Does the Manual Apply To?

The Manual applies to all teachers in NSW. In addition, the Act makes it clear that any individual who supports and leads the development and implementation of courses or an educational program in a school or early childhood education centre is required to be accredited. This includes, for example, the principal of a school.

Overview

The accreditation manual covers several matters relating to teacher accreditation. All these matters are now overseen by NESA:

• Initial Accreditation
• Proficient Teacher Accreditation
• Maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation
• Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) Accreditation
• Non-practising Teacher Accreditation
• Leave of Absence
• Cancellation, Suspension, and Revocation of Accreditation
• Accreditation of Returning Teachers
• Suitability to Teach
• Roles and responsibilities of different individuals.

Suitability to Teach

NESA is responsible for ensuring that members of the teaching profession in NSW are suitable to teach. Assessment of a teacher’s suitability may occur on initial application for accreditation or re-accreditation, or if NESA becomes aware of a matter concerning the conduct of the teacher as notified by an employer or other person.

On initial application for accreditation, if the applicant makes NESA aware of any conduct that may affect their suitability to teach, NESA may request additional information about the following to assess the suitability of the applicant:

• their criminal history
• any instances of the applicant being refused registration or accreditation
• any material findings of fact in a civil or criminal trial made by a court or tribunal relevant to their suitability
• any medical issue or matter that may impact on their suitability to teach
• any instances of misconduct that may result in revocation or suspension of accreditation
• any other information that NESA considers relevant.

In addition, re-assessment of an individual’s suitability to teach may be triggered on several occasions, including:

• a person complaining to NESA about the teacher about any of the matters described above
• disciplinary proceedings against the teacher for matters that may result in revocation or suspension
• criminal proceedings against the teacher that, in NESA’s opinion, relate to an act or conduct that reflects adversely on a teacher’s professional standing or integrity or their suitability or competence to teach
• the existence of grounds for revoking the teacher’s accreditation.

Revocation of Accreditation

NESA also has the power to revoke a teacher’s accreditation on a number of grounds. A teacher whose accreditation is revoked may not continue to work as a teacher, unless the revocation relates to their HALT accreditation, and they remain accredited as a proficient teacher.

Teacher accreditation may be revoked on several grounds:

• the teacher is a disqualified person within the meaning of the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012 (NSW)
• the teacher is found guilty of an offence punishable by imprisonment of 12 months or more
• the teacher has been found guilty of an offence under the Teacher Accreditation Act 2004 (NSW)
• the teacher is found guilty more than once of any other type of offence that would reflect adversely on a
  teacher’s professional standing or integrity or suitability or competence to teach
• the teacher has been dismissed from employment as a teacher because of misconduct that, in NESA’s opinion, is of a nature that would reflect adversely on a teacher’s professional standing, integrity, suitability or competence to teach
• the teacher has been included in the Not To Be Employed list, because of misconduct that, in NESA’s opinion, is of a nature that would reflect adversely on a teacher’s professional standing, integrity, suitability or competence to teach
• the teacher has failed to comply with any condition to which the teacher’s accreditation is subject
• the teacher has failed to comply with any of the requirements of the professional teaching standards
• NESA has made an assessment the teacher is not suitable to teach.

Responsibilities of Principals and Employers

With NESA replacing Teacher Accreditation Authorities as the decision-maker, the responsibilities of the principal and the teacher’s employer have changed. The responsibilities of the principal (which are set out in section 14.6 of the Manual), and the employer (set out in section 14.7) include ensuring that anyone employed to teach in their school holds active accreditation with NESA. Principals are also responsible for making recommendations to NESA about teachers’ accreditation at Proficient Teacher. Employers must have internal procedures for implementing NESA's requirements for teacher accreditation in their schools, for gaining Proficient Teacher and maintaining Proficient Teacher and HALT, and must provide all teachers with a copy/access to all relevant procedures.

Timing

NESA has provided a timeline for the introduction of the reforms:

• As of 24 October 2022, sections 1-3, 10 and 11 of the Manual took effect, with the Manual replacing the Provisional and Conditional Accreditation Policy (section 2), the English Language Proficiency of Teachers at Provisional or Conditional Accreditation Policy (section.2.3.2) and the Interim Suspension, Revocation & Voluntary Cancellation of Accreditation Policy (sections.10-11).
• From 29 November 2022, when NESA becomes the decision-maker for all stages of accreditation, the Manual will replace all other teacher accreditation policies.
• In a separate announcement about school registration reform, NESA advised that the Registered and Accredited Individual Non-government Schools (NSW) Manual and the Registration Systems and Member Non-government Schools Manual (Registration Manuals) require a minor amendment in 2022 to remove references to Teacher Accreditation Authorities. To date, this amendment has not yet been made.
• In February 2023, the suitability to teach check will be introduced for new teachers (section 13) and non-practising teacher accreditation will introduced (section 8).

More Information

• NSW Teacher Accreditation Resources
• Getting Accredited for the First Time
• Evidence for Teacher Accreditation
• NSW Teacher Accreditation Manual 2022