IELTS Research Reports

Glenys MerrifieldThe Medical Council conducted a review of standards for registration of doctors in the lead-up to June2009, and language skills formed part of that review with a Working Group researching best practice.Prior to June 2009, the IELTS band scores required were an overall score of 7.0 in the AcademicModule, with a minimum of 7.0 in Speaking and 6.0 in the other three macroskills.In revised standards which were implemented in mid-2009, however, these minimum scores wereincreased to an overall score of 7.5 and a minimum of 7.0 in all four macroskills. These minimumstandards are required in one sitting of the IELTS, and were revised upwards to bring them into linewith international best practice.4.3.3 Pre-Hospital Emergency Care CouncilThe Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) is responsible for emergency services in Irelandsuch as ambulance services and paramedics. It is an independent statutory agency which sets standardsof practice for emergency care, and has a role as an accreditation body for education and training. Italso assesses fitness to practise and conducts hearings on formal complaints about practitioners.The Council includes in its Code of Conduct and Ethics the statement that in the interests of safepractice, a registered practitioner should be competent in communicating effectively with patients andfamilies, and be particularly concise in seeking informed consent for his or her actions.The PHECC recommends that employees should have a minimum of 6.5 IELTS; whether this appliesto the General Training Module or the Academic Module, or to both, was not specified. No otherlanguage assessment systems are recommended by the Council, but the TOEFL test may be acceptableon application. Threshold levels for the TOEFL are not published, but are available on application.Because of EU legislation, the need for language assessment by the PHECC has been reducedconsiderably, the responsibility having been delegated to employers. However, there is the possibilitythat a registered practitioner may be subject to a “fitness to practise” enquiry by PHECC if languageskills are lacking. Responsibility for the communication skills of employees represents high stakesto employers. If a complaint were to be made about a practitioner’s fitness to practise which relatedto English language skills, this would be considered by the PHECC and the provider would beheld responsible, possibly resulting in withdrawal of approval to practice, which would prevent theemployer from operating. This has reportedly not occurred to date.5 Outcomes of the study5.1 Summarising comments - CanadaEight of the ten associations involved this study were public health-related. The Canadian associationswere the most diverse of the three countries in terms of the language assessment systems that wereaccepted. Because of the provincial nature of regulation in Canada, there was also greater variationbetween associations in the minimum levels of IELTS which were accepted.IELTS is the predominant testing system for professional associations in Canada, despite Canada’slong history of using Educational Testing Service tests. IELTS has built a market advantage byensuring that it maintains a broad testing network, prompt reporting of results, tight test security andreliable outcomes.48 www.ielts.org