IELTS Research Reports

An impact study into the use of IELTS by professional associations and registration entities:Canada, the United Kingdom and IrelandThe perceived language skills required by health professionals are encapsulated in documents settingout competency standards for each of the professions, produced when a review of standards took placein 2005. Analysis of communicative competency expected of a health professional was undertaken atthat time and was included under published standards of practice.Standards of proficiency for health professionals include the ability to demonstrate effective andappropriate skills for providing information and advice, for professional instruction and for provisionof a professional opinion to a range of interlocutors including patients, their families and carers, andcolleagues. Practitioner communication skills also require effective non-verbal communication, andthe awareness that effective communication may be affected by a number of factors including age,culture, gender and socio-economic status.Evidence of English language competency must be provided in the form of an IELTS Test Report or asatisfactory score in a number of alternative tests.The minimum band scores for Speech and Language Therapists is an overall score of 8.0 in the AcademicModule with no score below 7.5. This is particularly high in comparison with other regulatory bodies, andthe reason is that language communication is a core competency for speech and language therapists. Theequivalent in Cambridge ESOL examinations is the CPE, and a score of 118/120 overall in the iB TOEFL.For other practitioners, the minimum band scores are an overall 7.0, with no score less than 6.5. This isperceived as equivalent to the Cambridge Advanced English test or 100 in iB TOEFL.4.2.8 Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)The Nursing and Midwifery Council has as its primary aim safeguarding the health and well-being ofthe public. It does this through registration, setting standards of education, training and conduct, andensuring that practitioners in nursing and midwifery maintain their skills and knowledge. It also has arole in investigating complaints of misconduct, which may come from employers, from other nurses ormidwives or from the public.Nurse and midwife training programs within the UK must be approved by the Council. In caseswhere overseas nurses and midwives are insufficiently qualified, they may be given access to a preregistrationprogram of two years. Generally, the minimum training program is three years.This organisation is dealing with very large numbers of nurses and midwives, having a databaseof approximately 630,000, and requiring practitioners to renew their registration every three years.However, the number of overseas nurses and midwives entering the UK and seeking work in the fieldhas been dropping in the past five years, from 10,000 in 2003 to approximately five hundred in the firsthalf of 2009. This was attributed at least in part to an initial influx at the beginning of the twenty-firstcentury from EEA countries when border restrictions were relaxed.All overseas nurses apart from those from the European Economic Area are required to do an Englishlanguage assessment, including those whose first language is English (e.g. Australians, Canadians,etc). Decisions on acceptable levels and review of those levels are made by the NMC Council offourteen members.Research was conducted by the NMC into the language needs of nurses and midwives in orderto establish minimum standards of English language communication. They need to be able tocommunicate effectively with patients of all ages and sociocultural backgrounds, as well as foreignnationals. Practitioners also need mastery of medical terms and jargon, and a good understanding ofLatin-based technical language.IELTS Research Reports Volume 1145