PROBLEM WITH REGISTRATION AND ENGLISH TEST

hi Conny,

some of the nurses that i come across who have trained in australia and that have come here as students and studied nursing have exceptionally bad english skills. so i have to say i do think its kinda hypocritical that if you are already a nurse and try to come here it can be made so difficult if your english skills arent 100%.

i guess its a case of the Government making money out of students who can pay for full fee uni courses and so they are prepared to ignore english skills to a point (although im sure they probably do have some kind of literacy tests?? i dont know enough about it).

it doesnt seem at all fair. but i guess thats just how it is.

Its an IELTS test costs $300 a pop and you have to now get a 7 or above, which is VERY high. Australian's who did not get a band 4 in the HSC also have to do an IELTS test before being able to be registered. They can also ask anyone to do it dispite your background

Apart from IELTS, there's the OET which focuses on the profession concerned. This might address some of the problems regarding english proficiency. I think this is a difficult requirement that has been imposed hastily and causing endless strive for international students who are studying in local unis or tafes with the intention of eventually take up registration and residence in Australia. Some argue that international students or overseas trained nurses are so poor in their English that they could present a danger to effectively working in Australia. Yes there are some who meets this criteria but to paint every international student with the same brush is unrealistic. I only hope that the nursing councils of the various state will eventually gain some degree of sensible uniformity and develop criterias for registration both for international and locals. Anyways by mid 2010, all this should change and hopefully for the better.

Massimo, are you already for Griffith!? Remember to let me know if they pay you to attend clinical placements...LOL

Personally i do not agree with the previous opinion, everyone who is from overseas would be treating the same no matter what countries they are from, there is NO political agreement existing and all the job interviews, both on public and private health setting is all in equal opportunities.

For myself i am from CHINA i got IELTS all 7.0 for the regsitration, no exemptions given from the nurses board because i am from CHINA.

Also, not all people from china, phillippines and India is from POOR countries background, please do not create racial discrimination in the forum .

The truth is you either work hard or give up.

From a local prespective and maybe even for an International student with a view of migrating, the IELTS requirement is a bit of a good and bad at the same time. I think it depends on where you are are on this boat. If IELTS requirement applies to locals who have completed Uni, then it could also drive people from the profession, some simply because that they are not sufficiently confident in their English, especially for an existing migrant who speaks another language. No doubt English proficiency is a must to ensure safety for the patient and for all but one needs to draw the line and how it would be done and applied fairly begs an answer.

I am a Chinese and I consider myself decently fluent (if there's such a word...lol) in English be it written, spoken, listening and reading. However if you should ask me whether I am confident that I would or could ACE the IELTS, I would say...huh...not really. I left my well paid job as an accountant to pursue my desire to be of some use to the community. Sounds stupid but I have worked in aged care before i jumped straight in..Now if the new IELTS test is going to be applicable to me, I would say damn it...whose the clown who came up with this idea, when I am almost completing my degree!?

In short I have to comply with something which i did not foresee is an additional requirement. Take for example, in the last, an audiologist need only complete their degree and apply to register with their governing body to practice. Now to do so, one has to even complete a masters. Guess how many people are signing up to study audiology? Now, not that the pay is super duper huge and the cherry at the end of the day is so big and juicy that one would chance if not give up 6 years of their life to pursue the dream. I think the nursing boards of the various states need to sit down and put their heads together and come up with something which would meet the objectives and at the same time not deter future students from pursuing nursing as a career path. I think a gradual easing of the policies need to be done to ensure those who are already half way through are not subjected to something so dramatic that it would serve to unnecessarily filter them out of the equation. Be it as it is, all the best everyone.....myself included..lol

AromaGirl, I don't know what your problem is, what I have written is just a lighthearted opinion. I don't know where on earth did you get the idea that I am against Cert III nor am I advocating that English is NOT important. Read my post carefully before jumping into conclusions....QUOTE "No doubt English proficiency is a must to ensure safety for the patient and for all but one needs to draw the line and HOW IT WOULD BE DONE AND APPLIED FAIRLY begs an answer" Unquote.

My concern is that people like Conny are made to jumps through hoops because of hastily implemented system.

My former job is NOT relevant to you but it is to me, I graduated from RMIT, an Australian University and now I have to jump through hoops again? Seriously I think you have issues when you wrote that I seem to imply doing a cert III is STUPID.....I said that its sounds stupid for someone like me to leave a well paid job as a qualified accountant to go backwards and do a job as an AIN. Yes, I resigned from my job as a GM to work as an AIN and YES all my friends said I am Crazy/Stupid but did I mean to say that its stupid to do age care or work as an AIN? NO...read carefully!!! I did age care and cert III to see if this was for me and it was, hence me being in Uni now. However if someone is tossing between doing Div 2 and Div 1, I would encourage them to do Div 1 simply because they can pursue their ambition in specialising faster...anything wrong with this?

IELTS is good, I did not run it down but what I am advocating is a need for systematic approaches to implementing policies. Are you aware that the IELTS requirement implementation differs from state to state because they have not rationalise the quirky situations? QNC proposed that if you do a 2 year Uni course (4 semesters) with minimum 4 subjects or equivalent in credits to 4 subjects per semester, you are exempted from having to sit or show proof of completion of IELTS (7s in all bands) for registration? Whereas SA's board does not mention this as they are not certain if this is the way to go. They did not advertise qualifications for exemptions in their website and are looking into it from a case to case basis and developing criterias from that experience. I think SA's board is doing the right thing or at least better at it.

Currently the IELTS rule in Qld applies only to international students or those who obtained their qualifications overseas. In the same breathe they say, those from English speaking countries are exempted...so as you have rightly put it, even english speaking must be proficient and fluent as being an australian (english speaking country), there is no GUARANTEE...but why this disparity? I think poor Conny and many others are caught in this predicament, not that they are from English speaking countries but the rules and policies are so fluid that they cannot simply get answers. This is because in earlier paragraphs, QNC said with effect from July 1, 2009 ALL international applicants must complete or show proof of having satisfactorily completed an english proficiency test (OET or IELTS)...duh? Whatabout the part about those coming from English speaking countries getting an exemption? BTW, guess what QNC has to say about TAFE graduates? Nothing clear as it mentions only about Uni grads.....:(

You said that you want to communicate with people you work with and this is how you go about it? I did not attack you but merely suggest if you have ever considered doing a diploma to fast track, as an option....and you take it as if I am looking down on Cert III... Good luck anyways, I am not in the mood to argue with someone who is not prepared to give some lattitude even if none is asked of

LOL, Its not that I am NOT used to being challenged, the distinction is that I DON'T like people to assume that I represent something I did not claim and on that assumption seek to enlighten others.

I am aware of IELTS' existence long ago and again you assume and represent that I have no clue of its purpose. If you choose to read carefully, you might see that I am suggesting that the hastily implemented IELTS band score of 7 across the board for registration is causing problems and that I advocated that more thought could have been put into this before dumping it on. Hence my comparison of SA and Qld's governing bodies as to how they choose to handle the matter. Just for information sake, I have 2 friends, both nurses and did a bridging course. Both came from the same background, one went to Wa and got her reghistration but the other whose in Qld was rejected. Both had almost identical papers, experience and almost the same age. That was why I said that the system is not uniform, the interpretation of the rules is pretty fluid and causing some distress. I did not advocate that IELTS is NOT important nor that we do away with it. Contrary I did mention that its good that we have excellent English to ensure that our profession is assured a level of quality and safety. As I have said, assuming something which I did not represent irks me. and you have done it time and again.

By saying I left aone profession for another, I am indicating that there are many others who have done the same and imagine how it could impact them with the new regulation implemented so quickly and without much thought and uniformity. There you see, I am NOT talking about me nor my profession but using that as a reference to others who have made the change and came into a spot of predicament. I said that gradual progression is a better option, I have no definite suggestion but maybe one could adopt an approach that would provide some gateway for those already in the process of gaining recognition - TAFE or UNI.

Good for you for having done a degree but that's irrelevant, so is your decision to do cert III, nothing to do with this thread. And on that note...I wish you the best

Thanks Camille....albeit the sarcasm :)

Congrats on passing your IELTS; Thanks for the wishes and it so happens that I have also completed my IELTS with a band 7 in all, but thanks nonetheless ;)

Camille, you suggested all the best for my IELTS test particularly in X and X. Now I take that you are trying to tell me something between the lines. Hence my saying about sarcasm which basically means a hidden meaning. I am not trying to be rude to you and I appreciate your comments, hence my saying thanks in its most sincerest form...without a hint of malice. Had you say for example "Schizo, I think you may have misunderstood AromaGirls post as I can appreciate her point of view" I would have more than gladly accepted admonition and realise how others see things. Its a learning process. But when you "suggest" all the best for my IELTS particularly to reading and comprehension, it came across to me as sarcasm. I am sorry I misunderstood you and felt that as a tint of sarcasm.

My writing to AromaGirl sounds Iike I took a punt at her but again in my sincerest I did not. I was trying to show that if one made a comment (factual as it may have been) EXAMPLE about having a degree and NOT being relevan to the thread, it can be misinterpreted with a "tone" of malice, something I would unfortunately say happens many times on forums because there's a lack of body language and tone to carry the message in its true essence over. The intend of my line was as a thought provoking line, no malice intended and I apologise to AromaGirl if that came across that way. Nonetheless it did likewise came across to me that way when AromaGirl wrote that my accounting degree does not matter and when she later qualified I accepted that she had no malice in her intend and YES I was wrong to have read it otherwise. I did however went on to explain myself, that I was not against IELTS and why the system can hinder the registration process, filtering out some of the finest nurses that we could have in our country. I was hoping a graduation process like say maybe an initial 6.5 band for IELTS which though is a lower standard than a band of 7, may yet be as effective to ensure a level of safety for our patients and eventually moving up to ahigher band may be something to consider. Again I am no expert so its merely a suggestions. Maybe a compromise for those who are already half way through the study process or in a quandry caught between circumstances.

If I have caused you or AromaGirl any hurt, I APOLOGISE and hope we can move on from this. A troll indeed...lol...And that's laughing at myself....:)