AHPRA Revised English language skills registration standards taking effect from 1 July include a standard for dental

Revised AHPRA English language skills registration standards take effect from 1 July for all registrants except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners.

National Boards today published the contents of revised English language skills registration standards for all registrants except Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners. Boards also published supporting materials to help practitioners understand the new requirements.

Whenever possible, National Boards seek to work together to develop common or similar standards across professions.

The revised standards are:

• a common standard for 12 professions: Chinese medicine, chiropractic, dental, medical, medical radiation, occupational therapy, optometry, osteopathy, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry and psychology
• the standard for 10 Boards (no additional wording)
• a standard for dental, which is identical to the common standard with the addition of some very brief dental-specific words for applicants for limited registration
• a standard for medical, which is identical to the common standard with the addition of information about two medicine-specific English language tests
• a profession-specific standard for nursing and midwifery, which shares many elements with the common standard.

The revised standards introduce additional pathways for applicants to demonstrate evidence of their English language skills. Diagrams of how these work are included below under ‘additional resources’.

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.

These revised standards will 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 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.