Abstract:
Although government funded TESOL programs in the workplace have been implemented for the last twenty years, recent changes in the economy and award restructuring have led to far reaching changes in the nature of teachers' work in this field. Industry is demanding integrated language and literacy provision to be linked concurrently with on the job skills training and the CES claiming English skills are the prerequisite for re- employment. Some might claim a coherent overview is being developed on the one hand, at the same time the teachers are faced with rapid changes and uncertainty as to their own future, as provision is being taken out of the hands of traditional educational providers. The overwhelming response of the bureaucracies has been the coÐoption of competency based trainng and a national curriculum as the only way for the field to survive. Resistance is seen as irrational and teachers become invisible.This paper is based on current research with teachers working in this rapidly changing field which lie on the margins of the established programs.