Sadia's story

Sadia made a complaint to our office that the English language skills registration standard is unfair and discriminatory. Sadia said she had contacted Ahpra’s customer service team and had been advised to complete a self-assessment of whether she met the registration standard.

Sadia believed she would need to sit an English language test to show she met the registration standard.

Sadia said that she had completed her primary education in Australia before moving to the United Kingdom to complete some of her secondary education. Following that, she said she moved to a different campus of the same international school in Qatar. She said that she had completed the International Baccalaureate program there, which was delivered in English. Sadia then returned to Australia and completed 2 years of tertiary education. She completed an approved program of study in Australia, gaining a qualification for registration in her profession.

Sadia complained that it was unreasonable for people like herself, who had completed their education entirely in English, to be required to sit an English language test to meet the registration standard.

While Sadia’s complaint was open with our office, Ahpra advised Sadia that her application for registration was approved. She was advised that she met the registration standard because she had completed some of her secondary education in the UK, which is a ‘recognised country’ for the registration standard’s purposes.

Although Sadia had been granted registration, she emphasised that she had attended different campuses of the same international school in Qatar and the UK, but her education in Qatar was not recognised. She therefore continued to be concerned that the registration standard is unfair and discriminatory.

Complaint outcome

Our office explained to Sadia that her concerns raised similar issues that previous complainants had also raised with our office, including that the recognised country list preferences some countries above others. We shared information with Sadia about our ongoing work to ensure the registration standard is fair, including our submissions to Ahpra and the Boards as part of the review of the registration standard. In our submissions, we have suggested that the criteria used to decide the list of ‘recognised countries’ should be reviewed and consideration given to creating an alternative ‘recognised institutions/courses’ list.

Sadia was satisfied that the concerns she had raised were being taken seriously by our office and with the explanation provided about the application of the registration standard in her case.