NESA Professional Development announcement
Update: 3 December
Since NESA announced changes to their PD policy this week the Union has sought clarification from NESA regarding the status of any professional development which will be undertaken by members in these final weeks of the school year.
This afternoon we received assurances from NESA confirming that any registered professional development which is attended and logged by members in these next few weeks will be credited as part of your 50 registered hours required for your maintenance of accreditation.
This is a welcome outcome for union members who were quick to voice their concerns to the IEU and to NESA.
Examples of the important PD being undertaken by members in these final weeks include high level first aid courses, often delivered by external providers, and until recently classified as registered PD. These courses, often run over two days, are comprehensive and demanding, and clear indication of the priority members place on the welfare of the students in their care. The union will continue to pursue the possibility of having such PD categorised as accredited under the new policy.
Please see the most recent Newsmonth and the website for more detailed information.
Mark Northam
Secretary IEUA NSW/ACT Branch
Changes ahead: Professional development update
On Monday 30 November, NESA announced it would cancel the endorsement of all professional development providers across NSW. Its proposed new policy removes the endorsed PD provider status from teacher unions and other professional teaching associations, while retaining that preferential classification for Catholic and independent school employers.
The IEU has made representations to NESA seeking clarification of the status of PD completed in the final weeks of Term 4. Many schools have NESA-accredited PD planned and the IEU is seeking certainty as to its status.
The policy changes came about after questions referring to a handful of individual courses were raised in NSW Parliament earlier this year.
The IEU, other teacher unions, and the various professional teaching associations have been producing highly regarded professional development for years. NESA has now narrowed the focus of any PD it intends to accredit to just four areas: delivery and assessment of NSW Curriculum/Early Years Learning Framework; student/child mental health; students/children with disability; and Aboriginal education and supporting Aboriginal students/children.
What this means
As of 30 November 2020, all current NESA endorsement of IEU courses has been cancelled. The current online, on-demand courses offered by the IEU are valid until 5 February 2021. Any members undertaking these on-demand courses will still be able to count the hours towards their maintenance of accreditation.
But there is no need to panic. All PD hours that members have completed still stand and there is no indication that professional development that members have already completed and uploaded will be affected by this policy change.
All teachers must still complete 100 hours of PD over five years. Of this, 50 hours will be within the four priority areas (see above) and 50 hours will be elective PD (formerly known as teacher identified PD). Put simply, the PD needs of individual teachers can still be met within this category. The IEU understands that when you record the PD delivered by the union as elective PD, we can still share this record with NESA.
Key points
- All existing PD hours that members have completed, logged and evaluated will still count towards total hours.
- Given the issues with NESA’s eTAMS platform earlier in the year, it is advisable to print out a progress report from eTAMS to keep a record of any PD you have completed, logged, and evaluated.
- Members should still attend, log, and evaluate PD they complete after 30 December 2020 to ensure it contributes towards their PD maintenance requirements.
- If you are concerned you might struggle to meet the required PD hours, we encourage you to undertake the on-demand courses available at the IEUZone.
- There are currently more than 50 hours of courses available on the IEUZone.
- The IEUZone courses will be suspended from 31 January to allow for IEU staff to finalise the NESA uploads before the 5 February cut-off date.
- Undertaking IEUZone on-demand courses before 31 January will allow teachers to count the hours towards their current maintenance cycle.
- NESA has advised the IEU that we should continue uploading any courses completed before 31 January as a Registered Record and the teacher will be asked to evaluate it.
- NESA has yet to confirm whether these hours will be considered Registered/Accredited or Teacher identified/Elective PD hours.
- If members have any concerns with hours not being recorded on eTAMS they should, in the first instance, contact the NESA Professional Leaning team.
Phone: 1300 739 338
Professional Learning: PD@nesa.nsw.edu.au
Proficient teacher and maintenance of accreditation PTenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au