There is a cohort of approximately 800 early childhood teachers who were accredited at Proficient Teacher in 2016 with an old Working With Children Check (WWCC). The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA, formerly BOSTES) is writing to these teachers now to ensure sufficient time for them to gain the new clearance and for NESA to verify it.

Why some ECTs were accredited without a WWCC clearance

In 2015/2016, the then Early Childhood Working Party and NESA agreed that ECTs who had a current WWCC (but not a WWCC clearance) could be accredited under the transition policy. This flexibility gave ECTs additional time to gain a new WWCC clearance.  

Why NESA wants ECTs to get a new WWCC clearance now

NESA needs to verify over 90,000 WWCC clearances before 1 January 2018 – this includes all primary and secondary teachers as well as ECTs. The earlier an ECT provides their WWCC clearance to NESA, the more time NESA has to verify their clearance.

Why NESA needs to verify WWCC clearances

Verifying the WWCC clearance of an accredited teacher ensures NESA is immediately notified by the NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian (the OCG) of any issue related to a teacher's clearance. This ensures NESA is able to act quickly and decisively where a person is deemed a risk to children.  

What Childcare Approved Providers need to do now

Advise and encourage any accredited ECTs with the old WWCC to:

(1) apply to the OCG for a new WWCC clearance now, and
(2) e-mail notification of their WWCC clearance from the OCG to Contactus@nesa.nsw.edu.au