Certification pilot

The Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) has successfully piloted a certification model for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers.

Certification is an important way to recognise teachers' professional knowledge, skills and practice. As Queensland's certifying authority since 2019, the QCT is committed to ensuring certification remains rigorous, nationally aligned and relevant to the profession.

In 2025 and 2026, teachers, assessors, employers and teacher unions worked with the QCT to review the certification process. Together, they identified opportunities to reduce workload, improve accessibility and create a more flexible experience for teachers, while maintaining the high standards that give certification its value and credibility.

The pilot reflects the QCT's commitment to working with the profession to continuously improve certification and ensure it meets the needs of teachers, schools and education systems.

A collaborative approach

The pilot was co-designed through extensive consultation and collaboration with stakeholders across Queensland and Australia. This ensured the voices and experiences of those involved in certification helped shape the model from the outset.

Stakeholders included:

  • Teachers
  • School leaders and professional associations
  • Employers, including the Department of Education, Catholic Education Queensland (CEQL) and Independent Schools Queensland
  • Teacher unions, including the Queensland Teachers' Union (QTU) and Independent Education Union (IEU)
  • Assessors
  • The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)
  • Other certifying authorities across Australia

Through consultation, stakeholders identified several priorities for improvement, including:

  • Reducing the size and complexity of certification applications
  • Reducing the time required to complete the certification process
  • Enabling teachers to more easily use evidence from their day-to-day practice
  • Remove the requirement for assessors to take time away from their primary role
  • Recognising the significant contribution assessors make to the profession
  • Creating a process that is accessible to teachers working at the Highly Accomplished and Lead career stages across a range of school contexts

Working together, stakeholders and the QCT developed a model designed to address these priorities while maintaining the rigour, consistency and quality of certification.

An evidence-informed pilot

The pilot was designed to test the proposed certification model in practice and evaluate whether it achieved its intended goals.

Throughout the pilot, the QCT collected and analysed participant feedback, implementation insights, and other evidence to assess the model's effectiveness and its impact on teachers, schools, and assessors.

This evidence-informed approach helped ensure that any proposed improvements were based on real experiences and reliable data rather than assumptions.

Maintaining confidence in certification

A key priority throughout the pilot was maintaining the integrity of certification.

The pilot was developed and evaluated against national certification requirements to ensure the process remained robust, credible and aligned with the national framework.

The breadth of stakeholder participation, combined with the collection and evaluation of evidence throughout the pilot, provides confidence that the findings accurately reflect opportunities to improve certification while maintaining the high professional standards expected of Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers.

Pilot participation

The pilot was conducted from March to September and involved:

  • 56 teachers from state schools and Independent Schools represented by CEQL
  • 22 assessors
  • 16 Lead teacher applications
  • 40 Highly Accomplished applications

The pilot demonstrates the value of working in partnership with the profession. Through collaboration, evidence-informed design and rigorous evaluation, the QCT has explored opportunities to make certification more accessible and sustainable while maintaining the high standards that underpin national certification.

Learn more about the successfully piloted certification model to be introduced in 2027
  • Classroom Video of Practice (reduced by 50%)
  • 10 descriptors can be endorsed by a school leader with no further assessment required
  • 20 standard descriptors to be evidenced via written application (reduced from 37 standard descriptors)
  • Reduced written application from 7,500 words to 3,000 words
  • Stage 1 applications can be submitted at any time from January until June every year
  • No referee statements required
  • No pre- or post- classroom video practice conversations required

The certification process remains in two stages:

Stage 1: Classroom practice video and 10 standard descriptors endorsed by a school leader.

Stage 2: Documented evidence of 20 standard descriptors at the applicant’s career stage

Learn more about applying for certification.

Last updated:
16 September 2026