Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Important Things To Know About Act 48

By Richard Morris


Being a professional requires you to know a lot of things about the field you are working in. This knowledge must be continuously updated because more things are constantly being discovered and developed. Failing to do so would make you at a disadvantage and not being able to be competitive against others in the same field you are working in.

Teachers or educators are an example of these professionals that continuous learning is required for them to be able to proved quality education to students. The PA act 48 mandates them in maintaining the active status of the certifications they have by undergoing one hundred eighty hours in professional development every other five years. Being unable to do this would make the certification status inactive and prohibiting them from working.

This can happen if the professional will not do anything to comply with the law and employed currently in a public school. They will be losing their teaching job and would not be allowed in being employed again in the same job unless the status has been reactivated. They are only allowed to work as a temporary substitute for only ninety days though.

Aside from the hours needed to comply with this, you could use credits gained in college, graduate or undergraduate, or from continuing professional development. Six credits are needed and could be combined with your hours by having every credit equals to thirty hours. There is also a faster way and that is online learning where choosing different topics is possible and the materials will be downloaded directly to your computer.

They will inform you twelve months before your certification becomes inactive in order for you to get ready. Your employer will be contacted and informed as well to discuss your options in complying with the requirements. The current address information about you must be the latest within the records of department of education.

This is important so that they can contact you about this and any other news that they have. Your address is not the only thing that must be up to date but also your name in case of changes made to it. You can check this information if they are up to date by going to the website of department of education.

An extension could be granted in complying the requirements as long as there has been a request for it due to having extenuating circumstances. Some examples of having these circumstances are medical disability, financial difficulties and military duty with more options being shown in the form. There is an online form for requesting extension and this must be completed before being considered for one.

You are also responsible in keeping record of hours and credits you gained during this period and monitor them. If there are any discrepancies with the records reported then it is also your responsibility to contact your providers to correct them. The department has no responsibility for monitoring them so any discrepancies will be your problem.

There are department approved providers where you could comply the requirements with. All carrying certificates in teaching public schools are notified even if they are not working in one. Private schools are not bound by law to ask their teachers to maintain an active status but some of them require their teachers to do so.




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