Reviewing South Australian ESL programs and services: Implications for teachers and learners at senior secondary levels

Currently each state and territory in Australia offers its own range of ESOL services and programs, guided by policy and supported by funding from both national and state and territory authorities, with some variations occurring across jurisdictions (government, independent and Catholic). The National Curriculum Board (now renamed the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]) came into effect in January 2009 and released for consultation an English curriculum framing paper for a national English curriculum. It is timely, therefore, to consider what states and territories currently offer in terms of ESOL services and programs, and what might be learned from considering these in terms of useful models for framing national curriculum and programs. The paper examines the South Australian ESOL programs and services, focusing on the senior secondary years, and highlights the implications of the national English curriculum for ESL teachers and learners.