moving to aus as a speech pathologist

Hi all,

If anyone has any advice on moving to australia as a speech pathologist from the UK, I would be EXTREMELY grateful.

I am about to embark on my visa application. I would like to know:

Does applying for SPA membership mean the same thing as a positive skills assessment??

Any tips on differences of working in Australia as a speechie - how different is it from the UK? any tips on things to read up on? different assessments etc?

Is it hard to get superior english level on the IELTS test - even though it is my native language and I am post graduate level, I'm still worried I wont get a perfect score!

ANY advice welcome about any of the above.

Thank you!!

I can't help with detail, but as a general rule professional membership is not a skills assessment and I can't think of many cases where it does. So, you will need a skills assessment.

With ILETS you should certainly revise. Like any exam, some find it easy and others hard. I have seen bricklayers score maximum first time and a post doctoral English specialist take three attempts. Generally though, as long as you revise and prepare you should be fine.

Hi,

Thanks for this! Can anyone tell me what I need to do for a skills assessment for a speech pathologist then before i put in the EOI?

Thanks!

Louise

Hi,

 

Thanks for this! Can anyone tell me what I need to do for a skills assessment for a speech pathologist then before i put in the EOI?

 

Thanks!

Louise

The information you seek is on the SPA website.

In my area of nuero, finding a speechie that has knowledge and working experience of eye gaze/AAC is really hard. I end up stalking the few I know who are good at it to help my patients... if you're up to date on that kind of stuff and the modern technology on the market (e.g. Tobii) that'll put you ahead of many others and will be a selling point when looking for work.

The information you seek is on the SPA website.

Hi,

thanks for this, I have been looking. This is what originally brought me to the conclusion that doing the MRA application for membership is the same as the positive skills assessment, but apparently I am missing something. Just want to clear that up. Is doing the MRA application the same thing as the positive skills assessment, i.e. once I have done this, can I go ahead with the EOI?

Hi,

Ok thanks for this! I work with paediatric and am gaining quite wide experiences, I have had the luck to gain some experience with eye gaze and some other AAC for children with cerebral palsy, but I am not all familiar with different brands etc, there may be differences in oz too!

Hi,

 

thanks for this, I have been looking. This is what originally brought me to the conclusion that doing the MRA application for membership is the same as the positive skills assessment, but apparently I am missing something. Just want to clear that up. Is doing the MRA application the same thing as the positive skills assessment, i.e. once I have done this, can I go ahead with the EOI?

Applying for membership of a professional body or seeking licensing or whatever is very very rarely the same as skills assessment.

You need to very specifically look up "skills assessment" on the appropriate website. Skills assessment is something very specific to migration and it is essential for a skilled migration visa.

Hi,

I'm having trouble with this, all I find is the mutual recognition agreement for application for membership. Am I completely on the wrong track or can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks!

I think you need to be a member of the RCSLT and then you apply for mutual recognition of your qualifications. It does seem that successfully achieving mutual recognition is what is needed. Not quite sure how that then relates to years relevant experience for your application though. It is not at all clear from the SPA website! Have you tried contact SPA directly for further information as they are definitely listed as the assessing authority?

Thanks for this. Are you a speechie? Where are you working?

It's not clear at all. I have emailed them, so hopefully it becomes clear.

Thanks!

No, not a speechie. - mM daughter just began SLT and so familiar with it and from claiming from health insurance, know about the different professional bodies. Good luck with your application!

Hi Louise, the process may have changed since I came over several years ago, but my understanding is as follows.

SPA and RCSLT have a 'mutual recognition' agreement, which means that they agree that undergraduates from Aus and the U.K are trained to a similar level and can therefore work in either country. However, they don't really agree about this, as SPA seem to think that Uk graduates don't know as much about dysphagia as Aus graduates do. In order to work as a SLT (known as a SP) over here, you need to be 'eligible' for membership with SPA. (You don't necessarily have to be a paid up member). Being eligible for membership just means that SPA recognise your qualifications and think you're as good as an Aus trained SP. They may ask you for post grad evidence of your competency in dysphagia (whether or not you intend to work in that area). They asked me for evidence of that I had the skills and experience to autonomously treat babies, children and adults (head & neck and stroke) with dysphagia!!! (I only had post grad dysphagia experience with school aged kids with disabilities and with ALD, but I managed to get my eligibility in the end). However, I've heard that some people have successfully got their eligibility without having to provide any evidence of post grad dysphagia related competencies. I suggest that you phone SPA. I found phoning a lot more useful than emailing.

You need to get your eligibility before you can get your visa, since I think that you need to have eligibility in order to get through the skills assessment, but the visa application process has changed in recent years, and I don't know whether you can start the ball rolling before you have eligibility or not - hopefully you can.

In terms of differences working as a speechie in Aus verses the U.K, it depends. What's your caseload?

Hi,

I contacted SPA and as you say doing the MRA application is the same as the skills assessment - or opens the pathway to it!

They said:

'When you submit your MRA Application, on the second page near the top of the page there is a box to tick ‘Application is for Migration Purposes’ Yes box and No box. Please tick the yes box and when/if your application is approved you will receive an Immigration letter.'

I work with under 5s complex and school age children. Is it easy to get a job in clinic? I think I have the dysphagia competency sorted as we completed (or began to) a RCSLT dysphagia log and I think that should be acceptable enough.

Thanks, any other useful info about getting a job in aus will be helpful!

Ok, I'm glad that things are a bit clearer now.

I only have experience working in Sydney and I'm not sure how things differ from state to state, but broadly speaking, you can either work for community health (equivalent to NHS but much longer wait lists and more competition for jobs in bigger cities (not so in small towns), mostly with kids with delay and disorder), work for a not for profit NGO (previously funded by the government but now that NDIS is happening, people with a disability recieve funding from the government and the families choose which service provider to spend it with), or work privately (lots of private jobs going but coming from the NHS, you may not favour this service delivery model, and many private therapists also work on literacy and accent modification). I believe in QLD there are also state funded school SLTs, but not in NSW and I'm not sure about other states. Some special schools in NSW have their own therapists, but most don't, they just have visiting therapists For specific children.

This is a good website for finding jobs: http://www.applydirect.com.au and you can also look at community health websites such as this one for NSW: https://nswhealth.erecruit.com.au and the Seek website has lots of private jobs and agencies advertising.

In terms of assessment for little ones and school age, people use the CELF (but pronounce it as SELF which makes no sense as C stands for 'clinical'), PLS, Pragmatic Profile, DEEP, Rossetti ... Same sort of thing.

I think SPA want to know that you're an 'autonomous practitioner' when it comes to dysphagia, and don't require a great deal of supervision/support.

Thanks so much for this, really helpful!

I would love to go to sydney, but I am open to going anywhere for the work.

I will take a look at those websites - thanks

Have you seen this? https://www.speech-language-therapy-jobs.org/jobs/5671654/speech-pathologist-speech-and-language-therapist.asp