Benefits and Challenges with the Modular Model of Teacher Certification in Australia: Listening to Teachers’ Voices

Oct 15, 2026

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This paper examines teachers’ views about the Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) Certification 2.0 Modular Model (CMM 2.0), capturing teachers’ agency through semi-structured interviews. Participants included HALT certified teachers, current HALT participants, and prospective participants. The findings highlight the modular approach as flexible, supporting professional recognition and development. Challenges reported include time, cost, and workload, as well as the influence of leadership and peer collaboration. The study informs the design and implementation of modular certification in Australia and beyond.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teacher career advancement through certification

HALT certification and CMM 2.0 in Australia

Study focus and interpretative framework

Purpose of examining ACT educators’ experiences

Interpretative framework and participant experiences

CMM 2.0 structure and requirements

Modular completion timeline and module submission

Feedback and reflection between components

Benefits and Challenges with the Modular Model of Teacher Certification in Australia: Listening to Teachers’ Voices Bernard Brown University of Canberra Rohan Nethsinghe University of the Visual and Performing Arts. Sri Lanka Abstract: This paper examines teachers’ views about the Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) Certification 2.0 Modular Model (CMM 2.0). The research reveals teachers’ voices and agency in relation to HALT certification. Participants in this study included HALT certified teachers, current HALT participants, and prospective participants. The semi-structured interviews conducted provide insights into the benefits and challenges associated with the CMM 2.0. Thematic coding and systematic analysis were applied to the data to arrive at the key findings. The research revealed that teachers believed that the modular approach was advantageous as it was flexible and provided professional recognition and development. Issues identified by the participants were the time, cost and workload involved, and the role of leadership and peer collaboration in certification. This study makes a contribution to knowledge about the nature and benefits ofa modular approach, which can inform the design and implementation of certification in Australia and internationally. Key words: Teacher certification, teacher voice, teacher professional development, Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher Introduction Teacher career advancement though certification has become a growing focus for Australian school teachers and school leaders over the last decade with the introduction of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) designed by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) (AITSL, 2018) . AITSL has explained that“National Certification is a voluntary and portable process that ensures teachers have access to a rigorous and transparent process that recognises Highly Accomplished and Lead teachers”(AITSL, 2017). There are different levels of accreditation including Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) the focus of this paper. The HALT accreditation is a national certification that recognises teaching and leadership capacity which meets the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the relevant HALT career stage. The certification of teachers in Australia is the responsibility of appointed jurisdictional bodies in each state and territory (Nethsinghe & Brown, 2023) . Certification has many positive benefits for teachers and school leaders according to AITSL, who state that “certification will benefit all those involved in the process, including teachers, school leaders, education systems and, most importantly, students”(AITSL, 2017) . AITSL explains that the certification of HALTs has three purposes: 1. Recognise and promote quality teaching. 2. Provide an opportunity for teachers to reflect on their practice. 3. Provide a reliable indication of quality teaching that can be used to identify, recognise and/or reward Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers (AITSL, 2018) . In Australia, the criteria for assessing teachers who apply for certification is based on meeting the APST. In the ACT the Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) is the body which is responsible for certifying teachers against the APST (ACT TQI, 2020) . The ACT TQI has implemented a certification model called the Certification Modular Model 2.0 (CMM 2.0), for teachers to undertake HALT levels. The CMM 2.O was created in 2018 and has been piloted over a period of years as a different way of completing certification to the Full Portfolio model, which was used prior to its introduction and was phased out one year after the introduction of the new model. Nationally, recent studies have found that the number of teachers in Australian who have HALT certification is very low (Willis et al., 2021) . This is an ongoing problem across all states and territories in Australia and there are multipl

FAQs

What is the HALT Certification 2.0 Modular Model (CMM 2.0) designed to do?

CMM 2.0 is a modular pathway for completing HALT certification, intended to provide a more flexible, engaging process and support teachers’ professional development and recognition.

What benefits do teachers associate with the modular approach?

Teachers describe the modular approach as flexible and beneficial for professional recognition and development, while also enabling reflection between certification components.

What challenges do participants report about CMM 2.0?

Participants report challenges related to time, cost, and workload, and they emphasize that leadership and peer collaboration influence how certification is experienced.

Oct 15, 2026

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