There have been significant changes to the economic, political, and education landscape in English Language Teaching (ELT) quality assurance in Australia in recent times. NEAS Australia is a not-for-profit charity and independent quality assurance organisation established in 1990, set up to support the Commonwealth’s Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act, to protect international student interests in ELT delivery. From 2014-2019, NEAS has led the multi-sector stewardship of quality assurance in ELT across three quality cycles, including membership with 154 education providers in Australia and Asia Pacific.
An independent national review was commissioned (Online Peer Solutions, 2019) to review NEAS’s Quality Assurance Framework, in particular, Quality Area: A: Teaching, Learning and Assessment and Quality Area B: The Student Experience. The national review mapped the impact of regulatory changes on the ELT sector, including the revision of the ELICOS Standards (2018) and the Higher Education Standards Framework (2015); and a review of National Vocational and Training Regulator Act 2011 (NVETR Act) and its associated legislative framework. Findings highlight the significant impact NEAS has had on the ELT sector in quality assurance. NEAS has undertaken 127 quality audits; provided 6000 professional learning opportunities; surveyed 25,836 participants and involved 1,920 conference participants. A significant change has been the development and mapping of learning outcomes to assessment, which has seen a multi-sector shift from a teacher-centred approach to a student-centred approach to learning. This presentation will provide an overview of the national findings and recommendations for professionalising English Language Teaching.