Jobs and Skills Summit – Calls for support
English Australia is utilising the upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit that is being convened by the Albanese Government to highlight the teacher shortages that are impacting the sector. This week I’ve written to the Treasurer and key Ministers to reinforce the impact that the closure of the international borders had on member colleges, which led to the drastic loss of qualified teachers.
Responding to the issues paper that was released ahead of the summit, English Australia’s proposed the following measures to support teacher recruitment.
Changes to the working holiday visa (visas 417 and 462) durations to promote attractiveness;
Synchronisation of Commonwealth and State/Territory skills on demand lists for Teachers of English Language programs; and
Subsidisation of cost of English Teaching qualifications (CELTA and TESOL) to promote attractiveness to local students.
Teacher recruitment focus – State/ Territory Governments
As part of our efforts to support teacher recruitment, I’ve written to each of the State/ Territory Premiers and Chief Ministers to request that Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ANZSCO: 249311) be added on their skills to demand lists if it is currently not included.
We have several other initiatives focused on this area of advocacy and support that we will be announcing shortly.
Our Annual Conference is less than two weeks away
Final preparations for our annual conference are well underway, with only 12 days to go. Register now for this flagship industry event for the ELICOS sector and gain access to the live sessions as well as all session recordings and slides for one month after the conference. Plus, don’t miss out on our state-based social networking events on Thursday 15 September where you can meet face-to-face with industry peers.
New online courses in Online and Hybrid Language Teaching
It was great to release our two new online courses for teachers this month, which are free to access. The courses, Approaches to Online English Language teaching, where you will learn how to adapt your teaching to engage and support online English language learners, and Approaches to Hybrid English Language Teaching, where you will learn how to facilitate engaging and varied interaction between students in hybrid English language lessons. Register for these self-paced 3-4 hour courses today. Please note as per the newsletter that there is a special registration link for English Australia members.
Mental Health SIG Symposium
The inaugural Mental Health SIG Symposium was held on 3-4 August. The 2-day program featured plenary sessions and presentations from staff at English Australia member colleges on the topics of mental health and wellbeing. Thank you to everyone that attended and provided such positive feedback from the event.
Research Report: Partnering for success: Education led engagement between Australia and Vietnam
I am also proud to release our latest market research report - Partnering for success: Education led engagement between Australia and Vietnam.
English Australia engaged BONARD to conduct this independent research on our behalf aimed at identifying partnership opportunities between Australia and Vietnam in English language teaching. The research explored existing practices, emerging trends, and the most recent assessment of local market needs and preferences. It is great to see that Vietnam sees attaining English language proficiency through cross-country collaboration as an important means of facilitating the country's development. I would be happy to discuss any opportunities that members would like to explore in the market and can provide support with linkages to Austrade and DFAT colleagues in Vietnam.
Innovation Development Fund 2021-22
The Innovation Fund 2021 is now complete. I want to thank the Department of Education for supporting the sector during the pandemic, and their investment in assisting Private Higher Education providers and Private English Language providers pivot to online and offshore delivery.
The Innovation Development Fund 2021-22 grantees have fully completed their mid-point reconciliations. The following reporting milestone will be in September. At this point, we will be looking to release the reporting module on Monday, 12 September, with Friday, 23 September being the due date. This window will allow grantees two full weeks to submit this report update.
Regulatory update
I attended the ASQA Quarterly Provider Roundtable meeting earlier this month. ASQA provided an update on Provider self-assurance of Standards for RTOs, noting that they were finalising a number of tools and resources to support providers to understand their expectations and that they are planning to conduct a pilot related to a new approach to the Annual Declaration of Compliance. ASQA also confirmed that they had introduced new fees and charges from 1 July 2022, with fee relief to continue for ELICOS providers until 31 December 2022, which was support that English Australia extensively advocated for last year. A copy of the Communique from the meeting can be accessed here.
Visa update
I continue to regularly liaise with the Department of Home Affairs on visa processing. It appears that there has been some movement with the backlog of processing based on the allocation of the additional resources, albeit the grant rate data is still indicating that we are well below normal levels. The Education Visa Consultative Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 21 September, and I welcome any views or matters that you would like me to raise at this meeting.
Represent members at the ST Alphe UK conference and PIEoneer Awards
I will be attending the ST Alphe conference in person in London next month and representing members with a schedule of meetings with agents from all over the globe. The Global Alliance of English Language Association meeting is held alongside the event, which provides a great opportunity to meet with my counterparts and gain insights into the recovery experience in other destinations. The trip will culminate with PIEoneer Awards where English Australia is a finalist for the Association of the Year – fingers crossed.
August Board meeting
The English Australia Board met on 18 and 19 August. The Board was focused on items of governance related to the Annual financial reports, as well as their review of the strategic achievements of the past year against the goals and objectives that were set. The Board reviewed the annual member survey results which supported the confirmation of the strategic priorities for the year ahead.
The meeting summary will be available soon.
Please reach out to me directly should you wish to discuss any aspects of your membership or sector related matters.