Insane Bureaucracy: British nurse forced to take English exam
Mikey 9 comments
The world has gone mad. Julie Dutton a British born, raised and educated nurse has applied to have her nursing qualifications recognised in New South Wales (Australia) after moving there with her husband last year. Nothing strange there, except for this little piece of red tape.
Despite clearly having a grasp of the English language, in both her application and her verbal communication because you know - she's British - Julie has been informed that she will first, in 3 months time, need to sit and pass an English language exam to prove she can communicate in English.
"I didn't even know that you needed an English language test and I said, 'Are you sure? I am from England, I was educated in the UK and I have worked in the UK. I speak fluent English',"
But thankfully David Harris from the university's International English Language Testing System Centre says Julie can sit the exam this weekend, although he still thinks that any English-speaking nurse should not be exempt.
"If it was to be decided that people should be exempted from the test, on the basis of what evidence would they make that decision?"
Is that a trick question? I can't speak for Mr Harris, but I honestly don't think it's a rocket science.
Anyway, good luck to Julie, I'm certain she will pass this pointless waste of time exam with flying colours.
Bob
Thursday 19th March 2009 | 10:03 AMI have a lady here at my workplace who has come from England and cannot speak English. If you apply for a Nursing position in England you have to take an English test. So what the big deal with this lady taking a test? The only thing I dissagree with is the waiting time for the exam.
Pete J
Thursday 19th March 2009 | 12:41 PM"So what the big deal with this lady taking a test"
The big deal is that in the course of her making the application in writing and during verbal conversations she has proved she is already quiate capable on the subject - probably more than the people asking her to sit the exam (being as she speaks 'proper' English and not the bastardised version we speak).
The test is to see if she can communicate in English, which she obviously can. The guy who moved her exam forward obviously sees the stupidity too otherwise he wouldn't have done it.
Jim
Thursday 19th March 2009 | 06:00 PMNot to sound horrible, but some English people have very thick accents, and I have no idea what they're talking about.
Dumb. I know I have an immense capacity for doing stupid things on occasion, but WOW!
One would thik "Hey, I am from England" would be enough, but apparently in England they must be speaking Greek.
Gail
Thursday 19th March 2009 | 10:21 PMOther than the time lost, I'm sure she'll ace it. And hey, now she has a funny story that she'll be telling for the rest of her life!
Laiste
Friday 20th March 2009 | 06:20 AMDo other English speaking nurses have to pass the same test? As in ones born in Australia? Or is this something that is only appiled to people born in a foreign country?
At least the Premier agrees that its absurd.
Kissthis
Thursday 26th March 2009 | 06:01 PM"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein
"As crazy as hauling timber into the woods" - Horace (Ancient Roman Poet 65 BC - 8 BC)
"Stupid is as Stupid does" - Forrest Gump
Ahhhhhhh......Stupidity rears it's ugly head yet again! -Moi-même : )
James
Wednesday 22nd April 2009 | 05:05 AM...in response to this comment by Jim. If you cant understand an english person speaking english maybe its because you're not speaking english yourself
SadSac
Thursday 19th March 2009 | 09:07 AM"on the basis of what evidence would they make that decision?"
Um...
Her high school English mark maybe?
I assume nurses have had to have passed high school in Britain?