Teachers will be given more opportunities to enhance their teaching and grow as expert educators, through meaningful changes to professional development requirements.
The changes aim to make professional development more valuable and ensure teachers are undertaking relevant, high-quality professional learning that benefits students in the classroom.
The restrictive requirements that have limited what teachers could count towards their 100-hours of mandated professional development will be removed, and in doing so, will bring NSW inline with the rest of the country and remove unnecessary red tape that was adding to teachers’ administrative workloads.
The changes mean that NSW teachers maintaining their accreditation will no longer be forced to undertake 50 of their 100 hours of accredited professional development in previously mandated areas, no longer need to write time-consuming evaluations for the professional development they complete, be able to identify the professional development that is relevant to their teaching and the education of their students, be supported by NESA to identify effective professional development with the introduction of a new framework and a list of Recognised Providers, and be able to include compliance training towards their 100 hours, provided it aligns with The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
However, despite the changes, Teachers will still be required to complete 100 hours of professional development every five years (or seven years for part-time or casual teachers) to maintain their accreditation.
