Understanding Protected Terms
Providers of Teacher Training Courses operate within Australia’s broader education landscape. While our primary focus is on sharing the transformative practice of yoga, the language we use to describe our courses matters, legally and ethically. This article explains key terminology that carries specific legal protections in Australia, helping you ensure your course descriptions are accurate and compliant.
Legally Protected Terms
Australia maintains a national framework for education qualifications called the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). This framework ensures that when someone earns a “diploma” or completes a “postgraduate” course, these terms carry consistent meaning and recognition across the country. Legislation restricts who can use certain educational terms to protect the integrity of this system and to protect students from misleading claims.
Diploma refers to a specific qualification level within the AQF (Levels 5 and 6). Only Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) approved by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) can award diplomas. A diploma typically requires one to two years of full-time study and meets nationally recognised competency standards. If your yoga teacher training course is delivered outside an RTO, describing it as a “diploma” is likely to breach regulations, regardless of how comprehensive your program may be.
Consider instead: certificate of completion, certificate of attendance, or simply describing the training hours completed (e.g., “200-hour yoga teacher training”).
Postgraduate is reserved for qualifications at AQF Level 8 and above, including Graduate Certificates, Graduate Diplomas, Master’s degrees, and Doctorates. These qualifications can only be offered by higher education providers registered with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Using “postgraduate” to describe advanced yoga training misrepresents the qualification level to prospective students, even when the training is designed for experienced teachers.
Consider instead: advanced training, continuing education, professional development, or specialist training.
Other protected terms include degree, bachelor, master, associate degree, and university. These should only be used by appropriately registered institutions.
Using protected terms without appropriate registration can result in formal regulatory action. Both ASQA and TEQSA have enforcement powers, and complaints from students or competitors can trigger investigations. Consequences may include formal warnings, requirements to amend marketing materials, financial penalties, and reputational damage. Beyond regulatory consequences, misusing these terms can undermine trust with your students. When someone discovers that their “diploma” is not a recognised qualification, it damages your reputation and the standing of yoga teacher training more broadly.
International Certifications
Many yoga teacher training providers reference alignment with Yoga Alliance, a US-based company that operates its own certification system using terms like “RYT-200” or “RYT-500.” These are certifications owned by one American company. While they carry recognition within some yoga communities, they are entirely separate from Australian government-regulated qualifications and from Australian industry standards.
Yoga Therapy: A Specialist Designation
While “Yoga Therapy” is not a legally protected term in Australia, it represents a specific professional qualification with rigorous standards. This is an area where misrepresentation occurs, sometimes accidentally.
Yoga Therapy refers to advanced specialist training typically comprising 650 to 800 hours of specialised study beyond foundational 200 or 350 hour Yoga Teacher Training. Various international bodies set standards for Yoga Therapy training, including IAYT with whom Yoga Australia harmonises. Yoga Australia registers Yoga Therapy courses that meet additional curriculum standards developed for the Australian context.
The phrase “all yoga is therapeutic” is sometimes used to justify calling general yoga “yoga therapy.” While yoga practice can certainly support wellbeing, Yoga Therapy is a distinct modality involving client assessment, treatment planning, and working with specific health conditions. It requires substantial training in anatomy, physiology, pathology, assessment protocols, and therapeutic application.
Misrepresenting general yoga as Yoga Therapy creates several problems. It misleads clients about the level of expertise they can expect, potentially puts vulnerable clients at risk when teachers work beyond their scope of practice, and undermines the professional standing of properly trained yoga therapists.
With private health insurance eligibility now tied to professional registration and scope of practice, accurate representation of qualifications becomes even more important, and the Code of Professional Conduct requires clear communication about credentials, scope of practice, and the claims teachers make about their services.
Registration with Yoga Australia
Yoga Australia offers a comprehensive and well-established pathway for recognising both teacher training courses and individual yoga teachers. Our four-level teacher registration system, developed over 25 years, has become the benchmark for professional yoga in this country.
The system progresses from Provisional Teacher (200 hours training) through Registered Level 1 (350 hours), Level 2 (500 hours, with requirements for years of practice and teaching experience), to Senior Teacher Level 3 (1000 hours training – which can include Yoga Therapy, 12+ years practice, 10 years teaching). This framework was developed over 25 years and addresses the credentialing needs of insurance providers, employers, and the public while honouring the depth and diversity of yoga traditions.
Teacher Training Courses registered with Yoga Australia meet standards that support high-level outcomes for graduates. Our standards exceed those of most yoga associations worldwide, and our members routinely teach and operate internationally with confidence in their credentials.
For Training Providers, registering your courses with Yoga Australia offers your graduates a clear pathway into a recognised profession, eligibility for insurance provider recognition, and membership of Australia’s peak yoga body. For your students, it represents assurance that their training meets standards developed by and for the Australian yoga community.
