Teacher Certification Australia (TCA) was created in 2017 to promote understanding of certification at Highly Accomplished and Lead and to increase understanding of teaching standards as a concept. Originally TCA offered online courses and printed course materials for schools to self-deliver at their own pace. TCA now only offers e-booklets written by Caroline Paget, to accommodate the increased focus on Caroline Paget’s original ideas and to enable readers to quickly and easily revisit the professional learning.

TCA is committed to strengthening understanding of Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST). The professional learning in the e-booklets is based on the APST, to enable teachers to identify the relevant parts of the Standards and to enable teachers to identify how each part of the APST relates to data-based decision making for learning and teaching.

Caroline Paget achieved national certification at Lead in 2013. Caroline has 20 years’ experience as a secondary school educator and four years’ experience as a Lecturer for teaching methods course groups at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Caroline was employed by UTS as a Lecturer for three hours per week with her own classes of final year, pre-service teachers.

Caroline is a highly experienced educator, who worked in a range of communities during her 20 years in schools. Caroline worked in the inner-city of Sydney for over 15 years. Caroline was also employed in remote schools which included a school with a majority of Aboriginal students and a K-12 setting. Caroline is a Premier’s Teacher Scholarship recipient, which enabled her to study creative teaching strategies in the USA.

Caroline has over ten years’ experience in school leadership roles. Caroline specialises in the design and implementation of procedures that support teachers to achieve established requirements, as they pertain to student learning outcomes. In 2020, Caroline developed the Product, Criterion, Action, Method (PCAM) approach to managing learning. An outline of PCAM may be found at the bottom of the Online Bytes web page on this website.

Caroline’s accreditation experience includes working on a panel assessing initial teacher education programs. She was involved in discussions with two international delegations visiting Australia, providing her insights and expertise on certification, to national leaders, and sharing her experience of becoming certified at Lead. Caroline was a member of the AITSL HALT Network Steering Committee for two years and has been employed by NESA to work on manuals about Highly Accomplished and Lead.

Click here to access Caroline Paget’s blog.

How to become certified at Highly Accomplished and Lead

Highly Accomplished and Lead teachers expand expertise in implementing effective teaching strategies. The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers defines effective teaching strategies as, “Strategies which research and workplace knowledge suggests contribute to successful learning outcomes for students.” (Glossary, AITSL).

Therefore, to become nationally certified at Highly Accomplished or Lead, teachers must, firstly, demonstrate expert knowledge of the research. Secondly, teachers must demonstrate the skills required to apply the research in the classroom. Thirdly, teachers must exhibit practice that optimises student learning outcomes. Fourthly, teachers must work in ways that also improve colleagues’ knowledge, skills and practice.

Contact Teacher Certification Australia