Early childhood registration frequently asked questions

Transcription

1 Early childhood registration frequently asked questions 1. What is the purpose of teacher regulation and registration? The Victorian Institute of Teaching is a public protection agency. Registration ensures teachers are qualified and suitable people, providing public confidence in the integrity and professionalism of the Victorian teaching fraternity. Regulation of the profession also protects the specialist knowledge and practice of teachers by requiring high standards for entry to the profession and to continue to be a teacher. 2. Why do early childhood teachers have to be registered? In 2008 the King review of the Victorian Institute of Teaching recommended that registration be expanded to include early childhood teachers. This was consistent with the integration of early childhood into the education portfolio. The former Office for Children, when it was part of the Department of Human Services, had started the process to establish registration for early childhood teachers. Importantly, registration recognises the significance of early childhood education. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Outcomes for Young Australians recognises that children who participate in quality early childhood education are more likely to make a successful transition to school, stay longer in school, continue on to further education and fully participate in employment and community life as adults. 3. Who must be registered? Under legislation all qualified early childhood teachers who are teaching or intend to teach in a Victorian education and care or early childhood service must be registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching commencing 30 September As soon as you are registered, your name will appear on the Register of Teachers. Educators or staff employed in early childhood education and care services who do not have an approved early childhood teaching qualification are not eligible for early childhood teacher registration and do not have to be registered. 4. What if I'm already a registered teacher? If you want to be registered as an early childhood teacher, you will need to complete a new registration application for early childhood teacher registration through your existing MyVIT account. The early childhood division of the register is separate from the (school) teacher division of the register (there are different qualification requirements). On registration, you will be issued with a separate registration card for your early childhood teacher registration. 5. What do early childhood teachers have to do to be registered? To be registered a teacher must: provide evidence of an early childhood teaching qualification approved or recognised by the Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) complete declarations about suitability to be a teacher have a satisfactory National Police History Check, conducted by the Institute

2 pay the registration fees If you provide evidence of teaching as an early childhood teacher for at least one day (6-8 hours) in the two years between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2015 you will be eligible for the transitional arrangements and to be granted full early childhood teacher registration. 6. How will I know if my qualification is approved by ACECQA? When applying to the Institute for early childhood teacher registration, you will need to provide evidence that you are a qualified early childhood teacher. ACECQA s website ( includes lots of information and guidance to help you work out whether you are qualified. You are a qualified early childhood teacher if: you hold an (approved, approved equivalent or former approved) early childhood teaching qualification published on the ACECQA list of approved qualifications you were recognised as a qualified early childhood teacher prior to 2012 under a former Australian state or territory law (note: to determine whether you were recognised under a former state or territory law, use the ACECQA qualifications checker) your qualification has been assessed as equivalent to an approved early childhood teaching qualification by ACECQA. 7. What do I have to provide to prove I m qualified? You will require a certified copy of your qualifications. This may be a copy of your official degree or certificate or official transcripts from your higher education provider. If your qualification is not listed on the ACECQA website, you will also need to provide additional evidence of the status of your qualification as an approved early childhood teaching qualification (For example: a Certificate of Equivalence and the assessment outcome decision letter issued by ACECQA; a letter of equivalence from Early Childhood Australia; etc) 8. What are proof-of-identity documents and why do I have to provide them? Proof of identity documents are certified copies of official documents confirming your unique identity. These are required to conduct a National Police History Check. For this reason the documents must show your complete name and you must provide evidence of any changes of name. It s important for protection of children and the integrity of the profession that the Institute establishes a person seeking registration is who they say they are and has the qualifications and suitability to teach declared in their application for registration. 9. How do I get my documents certified? Take them to an authorised person. There is a list of people authorised to witness statutory declarations and certify documents on the website. 10. I m currently working as an early childhood teacher. What do I have to do? Apply for registration so that you are registered by 30 September If you have taught as an early childhood teacher for at least one day (6-8 hours) during the two years from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2015 you will be registered under the transitional arrangements. What this means is that if you meet all other requirements for registration, the Institute will consider your experience as an early childhood teacher equips you to meet the professional standards. On this basis the Institute will grant you full registration as an early childhood teacher.

3 You can apply for registration under the transitional arrangements up to 31 March However, if you are teaching after 30 September 2015 you will need to be registered to be able to teach as a qualified early childhood teacher. If you are not eligible for the transitional arrangements and you apply to register as an early childhood teacher you will be provisionally registered and will need to undertake a process to meet the standards and apply for full registration. 11. What are the transitional arrangements for the registration of early childhood teachers? For people who are currently employed or engaged as early childhood teachers legislation provides for a period of transition to registration. If you have taught as an early childhood teacher for at least one day (6-8 hours) during the two years from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2015 you will be registered under the transitional arrangements. This includes early childhood teaching undertaken in either a paid ro voluntary capacity. What this means is that if you meet all other requirements for registration, the Institute will consider your experience as an early childhood teacher equips you to meet the professional standards. On this basis the Institute will grant you full registration as an early childhood teacher. You can apply for registration under the transitional arrangements up to 31 March However, if you are teaching after 30 September 2015 you will need to be registered to be able to teach as a qualified early childhood teacher. If you are not eligible for the transitional arrangements and you apply to register as an early childhood teacher you will be provisionally registered and will need to undertake a process to meet the standards and apply for full registration. A diagrammatic representation of the timing for early childhood registration and the transitional arrangements is described below. Transitional arrangements apply 1 Oct Sept Mar 2016 Employed or engaged as an early childhood teacher Early childhood teachers require registration Registration continues Early childhood teachers must be registered to teach Table 1: Early childhood teacher timeline for registration 12. What evidence to I need to show I am eligible for the transitional arrangements?

4 To show evidence of your teaching experience you will need to provide a formal statement of service or letter (on letterhead), stating you have been employed or engaged as an early childhood teacher. Your evidence needs to include when and where this occurred. Some examples of text for the letter: Example 1 To whom it may concern, [Full name] has been employed as an early childhood teacher for [period of time not less than one day] during the two years from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2015 at [name of Education and Care Service or Early Childhood Service]. Sincerely [Signature] [Position] Example 2 To whom it may concern, [Full name] has volunteered as an early childhood teacher on [date/dates totalling not less than one day] at [name of Education and Care Service or Early Childhood Service]. Sincerely [Signature] [Position] Example 3 To whom it may concern, [Full name] has been employed as a qualified early childhood teacher for [period of time not less than one day] during the two years from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2015 by [name of company/employer]. In the role of Pre-School Field Officer, they have under taken teaching duties as an early childhood teacher of more than one day. Sincerely [Signature] [Position] 13. I m an experienced and qualified early childhood teacher who will not be employed as an early childhood teacher in the two-year period from 1 October September Can I register under the transitional arrangements? No. Not under the transitional arrangements. Only qualified people who have been employed or engaged as an early childhood teacher for at least one day in that time are eligible to apply for early childhood teacher registration under the transitional arrangements.

5 If you do not meet this employment requirement you can still apply for early childhood teacher registration but will be granted provisional registration. 14. I m an experienced and qualified early childhood teacher who has been teaching in a voluntary capacity in an early childhood service. Can I register under the transitional arrangements? Yes. Qualified people who have been engaged as an early childhood teacher for at least one day in the period 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2015 are eligible to apply for early childhood teacher registration under the transitional arrangements. 15. I m a qualified early childhood teacher working in an education related field but not as a preschool or kindergarten teacher. Can I register under the transitional arrangements? Only if you have been employed or engaged as an early childhood teacher for at least one day in the two-year period from 1 October September This includes early childhood teaching of any duration undertaken in a paid or voluntary capacity. If you do not meet this employment requirement you can still apply for early childhood teacher registration but will be granted provisional registration. 16. I m a qualified early childhood teacher who is teaching adults. Can I use this equivalent practice to meet the recent practice requirements for registration under the transitional arrangements? No. Not under the transitional arrangements You must be employed or engaged as an early childhood teacher for at least one day in the two-year period from 1 October September This includes early childhood teaching of any duration undertaken in a paid or voluntary capacity. If you do not meet this employment requirement you can still apply for early childhood teacher registration but will be granted provisional registration. 17. What if I m eligible to register as an early childhood teacher but don t register by 30 September 2015? You can apply for early childhood teacher registration until 30 March 2016 and be granted full registration. However, after 30 September 2015 you must be registered to work as an early childhood teacher. If you register as an early childhood teacher after 30 March 2016 the transitional arrangements will no longer apply and you will be granted provisional registration.

6 18. How do I register? Registration is done through an individual online portal. To complete your early childhood teacher registration application you will: 1) Create a MyVIT account 2) fill in the online application form and submit to the Institute 3) the Institute will then a confirmation page with instructions 4) print and sign the confirmation page, attach certified copies of your supporting documentation and post to the Institute Supporting documentation includes: evidence of a qualification approved, assessed or recognised by ACECQA for early childhood teaching certified proof of identity documents You may also be required to provide the following: an overseas criminal record check evidence of an English language proficiency evidence of previous early childhood teaching 19. What do I have to pay? If you are eligible to register as an early childhood teacher under the transitional arrangements, you will only pay the annual registration fee. The cost of your National Police History Check and application fee will be absorbed by the Institute with some assistance from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. If you are a graduating early childhood teacher or someone who does not meet eligibility for transitional arrangements, you will pay an initial registration fee, including the annual registration fee and also a fee for the National Police History Check. 20. We use professional standards already. Are standards for registration the same? The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) were approved by the Minister for use by the Institute. Teachers registering with the Institute are initially granted provisional registration. This means they have met the APST at the Graduate Teacher level and have two years to develop their practice to meet the standards at the Proficient Teacher level. This requires they teach for a minimum of 80 days and undertake an Institute-defined process addressing the standards before they can apply for full registration. Teachers who ve been engaged or employed as an early childhood teacher in the two years prior to the 30 September 2015 by-pass provisional registration and are granted immediate full registration as an early childhood teacher. This means they are recognised by the Institute as meeting the APST at the Proficient Teacher level. Teachers granted full registration demonstrate regularly they maintain the Proficient Teacher standards through an annual renewal of registration process. These are the only professional practice standards used in the regulation of teachers by the Institute..

7 21. I won t graduate from my early childhood teaching program until the end of What do I have to do to be registered? Registration as an early childhood teacher is done through an individual online portal. Just prior to graduation you will: 1. Create a MyVIT account 2. fill in the online application form and submit to the Institute 3. the Institute will then a confirmation page with instructions 4. print and sign the confirmation page, attach certified copies of the supporting documentation and post to the Institute. Supporting documentation includes: evidence of a qualification approved or assessed by the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) for early childhood teaching certified proof of identity documents You may also be required to provide the following: an overseas criminal record check evidence of an English language proficiency If you satisfy the registration requirements, you will be provisionally registered and have two years to develop your practice to meet the Proficient Teacher standards. This requires you to teach for a minimum of 80 days and undertake an Institute-defined process before you can apply for full registration.