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- Working with Children Check
- New proof of identity requirements
- Teachers registration legislative reform survey
- Annotation of the public register
- Inclusive Education Expo July 2019
- Educators SA - 58 teacher associations
- Australian Childhood Foundation SMART - online professional learning
- QUT Teacher Podclass
- Australian Student Well-being Framework - professional learning
You may have heard the ads on the radio or seen information online and chances are you know all about the new Working with Children Check (WWCC) which is due to commence next Monday 1 July 2019.
Just in case you don’t, here’s a reminder about what you need to do.
When you apply to the TRB for teacher registration or renewal of registration you must now hold a valid WWCC.
If you hold a current DHS Child-related Screening Clearance you can apply for registration or renewal of registration without a WWCC however, you must apply for a WWCC before this clearance expires.
Working with Children Checks are only available through the Department of Human Services and are valid for 5 years. You must hold a valid one at all times if you are working with children.
We recommend all teachers who are due to renew before the 31 December this year and who don’t hold a current DHS Child-related Screening Clearance apply for a Working with Children Check as soon as possible. This will assist in preventing possible delays in the renewal process.
If you let your Working with Children Check lapse (or if your current child-related clearance expires and you fail to gain a WWCC before it expires), under Section 33A of the Children’s Protection Law Reform Act 2017, your registration may be suspended without notice.
There will be monitoring arrangements in place but it is essential that you are aware of when your WWCC expires and ensure that you have a valid WWCC at all times.
If you are not due to renew your registration until 2020 or 2021 you are not required to do anything at this time. However, when applying to renew your registration you will be required to have a WWCC so you will need to apply for one before you renew your registration.
For further information on what you need to do to apply for a WWCC contact the Central Assessment Unit of the Department of Human Services.
For further information about how the WWCC impacts teacher registration visit our website.
The Teachers Registration Board of South Australia is committed to ensuring that the teaching profession is comprised of competent educators and fit and proper persons to have the care of children.
As part of our assessment process, we conduct Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks (NCCHC) through the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). Due to new ACIC requirements, both new and currently registered teachers will now be required to provide identity documents upon application for teacher registration or renewal of registration.
What this means for currently registered teachers is that when you apply to renew your registration you will be asked to provide one document containing photographic identification from the following list:
- current Australian passport (not expired)
- ImmiCard
- current Australian driver’s licence, learner permit or provisional licence issued by a state or territory
- an international current passport with a valid entry stamp or visa
- current proof of age or photo identity card issued by an Australian government agency
- current shooter or firearm licence (not minor or junior permit or licence).
You will then be required to provide this proof of identity every ten years from the initial date of providing your proof of identity. More information about this requirement is available on our website here.
New applicants for teacher registration must now provide four documents to confirm their identity. New applicants can find out more here.
Consultation about potential reform to the Teachers Registration and Standards Act 2004 ended recently. As part of the consultation a discussion paper, Enhancing Teacher Registration in South Australia was released and stakeholders were invited to lodge submissions, complete a survey or attend one of a series of information sessions held across the state during May.
A full report detailing outcomes from the consultation will be available later in the year. Below are some of the results from the survey that was open from 9 April to 31 May and received 2,338 responses.
- 2,079 (88.92%) teachers
- 43 (1.84%) parents
- 56 (2.40%) community members
- 160 (6.84%) someone who works in the education sector
There was support for the Board taking on HALT certification with 66% supporting this and just under 90% supporting the Board undertaking education research.
A five-year registration term was popular with 66.18% of respondents compared to just under 34% who preferred to keep the three-year term. Over 65% would like to have the choice of when to pay their registration fees; full fee upon registration or annually while over 25% are happy to pay the full fee upon registration.
While a majority of respondents were happy with their registration expiring on 31 January (58%) just under 28% would like their registration to expire on the anniversary of when they first registered.
There was support for a new category of registration for teachers who are not currently teachers but wish to remain registered
As well as support for recognising professional practice in some non-teaching roles.
There was also a preference for recognising some overseas teaching practice for the purposes of transitioning to full registration.
The Teachers Registration Board has now annotated the public register to recognise highly accomplished and lead teachers (HALT). There are 136 HALT teachers in South Australia whose exceptional status will now be acknowledged on the public register together with the date they were certified.
The annotation of the public register also includes the current registration status of each teacher. If a teacher has conditions on their registration or they are cancelled, suspended or disqualified, this status will be displayed alongside their name. No further details are provided publicly.
The Register of Teachers can be accessed on our website here.
8-9 July EDC Hindmarsh
10 July SERU Henley Beach
The Inclusive Education Expo is held on an annual basis (July school holidays) to showcase high-quality practice in inclusive education. This will be its 16th year.
The Inclusive Education Expo aims to build and enhance educator’s capacity to be inclusive of all learners and will provide an opportunity for educators to learn and share with their peers in 45 workshop sessions. The audience for the expo is anyone working with a student with disability/learning difficulty. (eg. leaders, teachers, SSOs, support services staff and other educators.
Cost:
Department for Education employees – Free
Non-Department for Education Employees – $25.00 per session
Uni Students / Parents – $10.00 per session
To register, click on the link below.
http://web.seru.sa.edu.au/professional-learning/inclusive-education-expo/
Educators SA, also known as CEASA, is a community of 15,000 educators who are members of one of their 58 educator professional associations.
One of these associations is the Australian Association for Environmental Education - SA Chapter. This is the peak professional association for environmental educators.
They seek to foster education for a sustainable future by developing peoples’ understandings of the interrelationships between the elements of their environments and positive attitudes towards them.
They endeavour to develop skills and dispositions to actively engage in contributing to the wellbeing of local, regional and global environments.
This association brings together all those educating and encouraging people to understand their environment, appreciate environmental values, and live sustainably.
Click here to join AAEE SA or here to visit their website.
Click here to find out about all of the teacher associations at Educators SA.
What is SMART Online?
The SMART (Strategies for Managing Abuse Related Trauma) Program is an online learning course that focusses on supporting children and young people in a range of educational and other settings. The course is free and can be completed at your own pace – it should take approximately six hours of total student time.
The SMART program was funded by the South Australian Government Department for Education, as part of the Keeping Them Safe child protection reform agenda. It seeks to enhance the capacity of the school and early childhood personnel to effectively respond to the needs of children and young people who have experienced abuse and trauma.
PLEASE NOTE: SMART Online is currently being redeveloped. The current course will only remain accessible until the end of August 2019. New or existing students will not be able to transfer progress into the new course, so we encourage you to complete SMART study by this time.
Find out more here.
Student Wellbeing Hub team
Email: studentwellbeinghub@esa.edu.au
The Queensland University of Technology has produced Teacher Podclass a seven-part interview series hosted by journalist and author, Madonna King.
You can listen to a 3-minute condensed trailer of the 7 interviews to get a quick overview of the topics and a sense of the areas Teacher Podclass covers or dive right into one of the topics below.
- Taking leadership in your stride
- Honouring your health and wellbeing
- Thinking outside the classroom
- Who’s your classroom buddy?
- Dear guidance counsellor
- Is inspiration just a tweet away?
- Start the day with a song
Click here to listen.
Learn more about current best-practice approaches to drug and alcohol education, online safety, mental health and resilience, and find a guide to incorporating elements of the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework in your teaching and learning plans.
The Hub's professional learning modules provide high-quality, evidence-informed professional learning to help schools engage positively with current and future challenges in an ever-changing contemporary world.
These free, self-paced modules will help you to:
- engage with and apply the elements and effective practices of the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework to your school context
- build your knowledge of key topics for whole-school safety and wellbeing
- access information and advice that is current, research-informed, relevant and targeted to primary and secondary contexts
- communicate with parents about important issues
- reflect on your practice.
Find out more here.
Student Wellbeing Hub team
Email: studentwellbeinghub@esa.edu.au