Good news from Goodstart
Goodstart confirms Proficient Teachers are not expected to provide additional documentation to maintain their accreditation
Goodstart members contacted the Union to express their concerns regarding the documentation requirements listed in the Goodstart Procedures for Early Childhood Teachers maintaining Teacher Accreditation in a NSW Goodstart Early Learning Centre.
The Union wrote to Lisa Chiovo, State Manager NSW and explained the IEU’s position is that teachers should not be required to provide additional documentation in order for them to maintain their accreditation at Proficient. NESA does not require Proficient Teachers to annotate lesson plans, meeting minutes or reflective notes against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. As the educational program is documented and kept at services, attestors can view such documentation without requiring additional copies to be uploaded or kept in a portfolio.
The IEU considers that the Professional Development Progress Report available from e-TAMS should be sufficient evidence of engagement in professional learning programs and no further documentation of PD should be required. In addition, the Goodstart performance Excellence Program and participating in the development of the centre’s QIP are not required for maintenance of accreditation.
Teachers maintaining their Proficient Teacher accreditation are expected to declare that they continued to meet the APST at Proficient in their practice. Our expectation is that an attestor should be familiar with the Teacher’s practice and should view relevant existing documentation such as observations and analysis of children’s learning, program/ planning, evaluation and/ or critical reflection at the service. We confirmed that our advice to members would be that they do not need to provide additional documentation (uploaded or in a printed portfolio) to maintain their accreditation according to NESA.
Goodstart confirmed that teachers will not be required to provide additional documentation for the purpose of maintaining their accreditation and this will be clarified through their communications with teachers. As the Teacher’s line manager (Centre Director or Area Manager) has responsibility for attesting that a teacher has maintained their accreditation at Proficient in most cases an attestor would already be familiar with the Teacher’s practice. It is only in the event that an attester is unfamiliar with their work then the Teacher would need to explain their evidence.
Please contact the IEU if your attestor advises that you need to provide them with additional documentation or compile a portfolio for the purpose of maintaining your accreditation at Proficient.
This story is part of the IEU’s ‘Teachers r Teachers’ Enews for early childhood teachers. Read the rest of the stories below: