Revised English language and criminal history standards take effect today

01 Jul 2015

Revised English language and criminal history standards take effect from today.

National Boards have previously published the contents of the revised standards and supporting materials to help practitioners understand the new requirements.

The revised criminal history registration standard makes very minor amendments to the old standard. The changes are expected to have minimal impact on practitioners as no changes have been made to the factors National Boards will take into account when considering an applicant's or registrant’s criminal history.

The revised English language standards apply to all applicants for initial registration, regardless of whether they qualified in Australia or overseas (except for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners). The standards include:

• a common standard for 10 professions: Chinese medicine, chiropractic, medical radiation, occupational therapy, optometry, osteopathy, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry and psychology.
• a standard for dental practitioners
• a standard for medical practitioners, and
• a standard for nursing and midwifery

These revised standards introduce additional pathways for applicants to demonstrate evidence of their English language skills. Diagrams of how these work and other supporting resources are available on the English language skills registration page.

The revised standards were developed after a review of the existing standards, which included a public consultation. The consultation report provides a summary of responses, rationale for any changes and sets out the proposed way forward, including areas where further work is planned.

The English language skills registration standard for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners is being reviewed at a later date, and does not change on 1 July 2015.

For more information

• Lodge an online enquiry form
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9275 9009 (overseas callers)
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200