To renew your registration as a teacher, you need to maintain recency of practice by engaging in teaching, equivalent practice or educational leadership during the renewal period.
Roles which are considered equivalent practice or educational leadership need to meet certain criteria to be able to be used to renew your teacher registration.
If you declare that you are undertaking equivalent practice, you must be able to provide evidence that there is a clear relationship between your role and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Undertaking equivalent practice should allow you to practice proficiently if you return to teaching in a school or an early childhood service.
Equivalent practice should involve
- delivery of approved curriculum
- assessment of learning levels and learning needs of learners
- modification of teaching practice to accommodate this
- reporting of achievement
- feedback on learning
- review and reflection on professional practice to improve learning.
If selected for audit, you will be asked to provide evidence of how your role meets each of the above standards.
Examples of settings which could include equivalent practice roles include
- TAFE, higher education institutions or other tertiary institutions
- outdoor education centres, zoos / museums / aquariums, hospital schools, CERES or with juvenile offenders in correctional facilities
- educational consultants working directly with teachers and/or schools and early childhood services (e.g. preschool field officers, early intervention teachers)
- activity group leaders in an early childhood service
- tutoring as part of the Victorian government Tutor Learning initiative or a tutoring business that holds an ABN
- registered home schooler.
If you declare that you are undertaking educational leadership, you must be able to provide evidence that your role supports or improves the professional knowledge and practice of teachers in schools and/or early childhood services. Your workplace setting must have a relationship with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
Educational leadership may involve such things as
- providing leadership in a school or early childhood service
- developing resources and materials for use by teachers in schools or early childhood services
- research into teaching and learning, and the dissemination of that knowledge to teachers and/or other educational leaders
- policy development to support and improve teaching and learning
- working with teachers, either individually or collectively, to support and improve their professional knowledge and practice.
Teachers working as educational leaders may have leadership roles in schools or early childhood services. Examples of settings which could include educational leadership roles include
- in a regional office
- in a local council or kindergarten cluster group
- in an organisation providing services and/or support to schools and early childhood services
- in an education union such as the Australian Education Union (AEU) or Independent Education Union (IEU)
- with the Department of Education (DE), Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) or Independent Schools Victoria (ISV)
- with a professional teaching association
- undertaking research into teaching and learning or education-related issues
- as an educational consultant or as a leader in the area of teacher professional development.
If you determine that your role does not equate to equivalent practice or educational leadership, you can apply for non-practising registration.
Moving to non-practising registration
Teachers who are not currently teaching can apply for non-practising registration. Once they have moved to non-practising registration, the teacher will not be permitted to work as a teacher in any school or early childhood setting until they return to teaching from non-practising registration.
Non-practising registration allows you to maintain your suitability to be a teacher through a current and satisfactory Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC) but does not require you to maintain your professional practice. You can stay non-practising for as long as you wish, provided you pay the annual fee and update your NCCHC when required. However, you cannot teach in any Victorian school or early childhood service while you hold non-practising registration.
To apply for non-practising registration during your annual registration application, complete the following in the ‘recency of practice’ module
- answer ‘No’ to having completed any of the days of teaching, equivalent practice or educational leadership
- answer ‘Yes’ to apply for non-practising registration
- complete the non-practising module
- submit your annual registration application and pay the annual fee.