Teaching Australia - new English requirement

Effective from 22 March 2010, the English language requirement for teachers looking to emigrate to Australia is changing.

This change has been introduced by the AITSL (the teaching assessing authority). The new requirement means that all teachers must have;

1) completed at least one year full-time higher education level study for an initial teacher education qualification in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States of America; or

2) obtained a score of seven (7.0) or more in each component of the Academic version of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination, within the last 12 months

So unless you studied in one of the above countries, then you need to pass the IELTS test. This increased English langauge requirement is becoming more and more a part of the Australian migration program.

In some countries there is a backlog of applications to sit the test, so best to plan ahead in plenty of time.