Two South Coast teachers have received Highly Accomplished Teacher Awards at the Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher Award Ceremony held recently.
Moruya High School teacher, Dr Melissa Pecovnik, told East Coast Radio to be recognised with a medal after the arduous three-year process to attain accreditation, meant a lot to her.
“At the end of a really long process, it’s good to have that recognition but it doesn’t change what we do in the classroom every day,” Dr Pecovnik said.
“I wouldn’t have got there without my boss and my colleagues at Moruya High School, they’re a fantastic bunch of people to work with,” she said.
“It’s a team effort and I’d like to acknowledge that they’ve all played a part in helping me get to this point.”
Due to COVID-19 regulations over the last two years, the awards ceremony finally went ahead to recognise teachers who have attained this accreditation.
To attain this award Dr Pecovnik was required to document her practice and show the impact against a set of standards, undergo observations by NESA and have referees to attest her evidence.
“It’s a pretty involved task,”
“There’s a set of national standard and they’re very descriptive and a Highly Accomplished Teacher has to demonstrate that they meet all of those standards,”
“So there’s a lot of hoops you have to jump through to get there.”
Sarah Davis from Moruya Public School was the South Coast’s other recipient.
Ms Davis attained Lead Accreditation.
So it appears that Moruya government schools (MPS and MHS) are definitely punching above their weight.
Dr Pecovnik and Ms Davis are one of only around 250 people across NSW to be accredited with the Highly Accomplished Teacher Award.
Image: Melissa Pecovnik
