The Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council has approved the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s revised language skills standard.
This requires registered nurses, midwives and enrolled nurses to communicate effectively in English.
The new standard means applicants who have completed a minimum of five years, full-time equivalent of combined secondary, vocational or tertiary education will be accepted without the need to sit an English language test.
These must be taught and assessed in English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States.
Registered nurses and midwives must complete two of those five years in a pre-registration program of study.
The new standard still requires other applicants to submit evidence of English proficiency through their English test results.
They must achieving a minimum of level seven in one sitting across listening, reading, writing and speaking in the International English Language Testing System or a B score or above in one sitting of the four components in the Occupational English Test.
Australian College of Midwives NSW branch president Joanne Gray said ensuring effective communication is ‘a key component for all health professionals’.
She added that it’s ‘absolutely essential’ that registered health professionals are confident in their ability to communicate in English as it’s ‘key to all the work we do’.
For more information, please visit
the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board website.
