Questions about applying for HALT

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Advice for teachers about what you can do when situations arise as you apply for Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher (HALT) accreditation.

National HALT certification and NSW eligibility

If you hold national certification as a Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher in another state or territory, you are eligible for accreditation at the same level in NSW.

You need to first apply to NESA in your NESA online account (eTAMS) for accreditation in NSW.

You can then apply for mutual recognition by providing the following documentation to HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au:

a certified copy of your HALT accreditation certificate
evidence of completion of maintenance (renewal) where relevant.

NESA may contact another certifying authority to confirm your status before updating your record in your NESA online account (eTAMS). You will start maintaining accreditation at the applicable HALT level on the day you are recognised at that level in NSW.

Preliminary assessment you are not ready to apply

If the preliminary assessment indicates you're not ready to apply for HALT accreditation, read the feedback in the preliminary assessment report and:

continue to review and analyse the Standards at Highly Accomplished Teacher or Lead Teacher to understand the level of practice required
explore opportunities to further develop your practice aligned to the Standards identified in the report and discuss this with your principal/service director
visit NESA’s website to review the relevant evidence guide, which contains examples of practice and evidence
consider applying for the Highly Accomplished Teacher career stage if you completed the Lead Teacher preliminary assessment.

Principal or service director applying for HALT

If you're a principal / service director, you need to notify NESA at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au of your intention to apply for HALT and for advice on who can verify your eligibility.

No one at your school can complete observation

If you’re the only teacher accredited at Proficient Teacher in your school/service and have no one to complete an internal observation of your practice, contact NESA at HALenquiry@nesa.nsw.edu.au.

We can advise on how the internal observation process can be completed.

Standard Descriptors not fully demonstrated in Module Report

If your HALT Module Report contains Standard Descriptors not yet fully demonstrated, consider the feedback in your HALT Module Report. Determine how you will make the practice and/or impact visible in your documentary evidence for any Standard Descriptors not yet fully demonstrated.

You will be able to resubmit documentary evidence aligned to the Standard Descriptors in a future module.

We strongly recommend you attend a NESA workshop on understanding the HALT Module Report and feedback.

Accreditation unsuccessful after Module 3 revisions

After you submit your revised documentary evidence, the HALT Assessors will complete a final HALT Module Report based on all evidence submitted, including your revised evidence.

If you are unsuccessful at achieving HALT accreditation, you will be notified and receive the reasons for NESA’s accreditation decision. You may want to share these with your principal/service director and/or employer to seek support.

You may open a new application when you determine you are ready.
You can apply to NESA for an Internal review of a decision to not accredit you.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review, you can apply to NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) for a review of NESA’s decision to not accredit you.

Your accreditation will remain at your current accredited level. You will need to continue to meet the relevant maintenance requirements and timeframes.

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