Australian English language quality assurance agency, NEAS, has launched a new framework to endorse ELT teacher qualifications in a bid to strengthen standards throughout the sector and help providers and teachers understand the requirements of English instruction.
Launched at the NEAS Management Conference in May, the framework was developed after feedback from both teachers and providers over the need to understand the quality of teacher qualification.
“We feel why not start with the most important element, which is the teacher to student to element”
“Our intention is to be able to quality endorse the entire lifecycle for students, and that includes teachers as well,” said NEAS chief executive Patrick Pheasant.
“It’s really been focussed on responding to requests from teachers who are constantly calling NEAS to ask if their particular qualification meets the requirements of the regulators and also the requirements a NEAS endorsed centre.”
Tested initially as a pilot with four providers across vocational and higher education, Pheasant said the framework filled a needs gap within Australian ELT, which currently lacks a set of discreet standards for teacher courses which cover both sectors.
“There’s a pretty strong vested interest from the sector into going through the process,” he said.
“We feel why not start with the most important element, which is the teacher to student element. Why not look at how the teacher can have some guidance on which courses being provided are good?”
While NEAS has quality assured teacher qualifications on an individual level for about 15 years, Pheasant added the framework would give providers a set of principles to develop qualifications that would be recognised throughout Australia.
“There is a lot of great [courses] out there, but it’s hard,” he said.
“We get calls from teachers who want to move into ELICOS and teaching English, and they find it really hard to choose because there’s so much stuff online being advertised.”
In October 2018, NEAS signed a memorandum of understanding with English Australia in a “key moment” for Australian ELT.
