Is he eligible for ESL?

[Stick]

My friend speaks Vietnamese at home (first language). He was born here and has been attending school in Australia since prep, however. Is he eligible for ESL and SEAS for a non English speaking background?

[charmanderp]

Probably not, otherwise pretty much every student from MHS, Macrob, GWSC, etc would be doing ESL :p I think you usually have to have lived in a country where English is the predominantly spoken language for less than half your life. Although it's decided by the school, so they might have a policy which will allow him to do it.

Having said that, I think you'd be dead bored doing ESL if you've been taught in English for 12 years.

[1ne]

No way. I've been in Australia for 7 years (I'm a refugee) and I wasn't even eligible for ESL.. but maybe your school is different.

[paulsterio]

You have to have lived in Australia for less than 7 years to be considered for ESL

Otherwise, it's not exactly fair, as someone who's had essentially the same English education as someone else wouldn't be at any disadvantage, no matter what language they spoke at home.

[pi]

Nope, not eligible.

[paulsterio]

charmanderp, it's not a school decision, it's a VCAA decision, and the rule is 7 years, afaik, number may vary

[pi]

charmanderp, it's not a school decision, it's a VCAA decision, and the rule is 7 years, afaik, number may vary

Actually, it's the school's decision, VCAA just does the approving, see the black box at the bottom of the first page:
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/schooladmin/forms/vce/esl.pdf

[paulsterio]

That could technically mean that at one school you're ESL and at another school you're not?