Re: Come to Canada and starve!
 

[QUOTE=Spiff]The problem is Canadians are so arrogant. Don't deny it. In any other country on earth they will happily accept qualifications from other countries. Goto the UK and they'll accept Canadian qualificiations no problems.

I am a Canadian and I AM NOT DENYING that we are professionally arrogant and elitist. It hurts everybody. To get a decent job in Canada, it is *generally* agreed upon (but will probably be challenged here) that the more education you have, the better off you will be.

ALL professions are raising their entry requirements. You mentioned your Mum being a Nurse. Yes -- nurses in Ontario need a four year science degree in Ontario. After studying for four years you get NO FULL TIME job offers and get to work short-staffed and often mandatory overtime. NO BENEFITS.

Canada is an elitist pig when it comes to professions. Engineering degree here : four years. In the UK : three years. Masters degree required here for the the following professions: social work, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language therapy, advanced practice nurse. Teachers study for FIVE years.

I believe that Canadian professional bodies are so arrogant about their professional status that they keep raising the entry requirements in order to protect their own careers.

Ironically, I am pursuing my master's degree in order to join one of those same elitist professions. I have no other choice. The job opportunities are just too limited otherwise. :(

Re: Come to Canada and starve!
 

I have had my (physiotherapy) credentials examined and accepted by the regulatory body, much to my surprise actually. When I qualified it was with a "degree-equivalent" diploma, and I fully expected to be told to upgrade to a degree. However they took into account a post-grad certificate I'd done and accepted me!

When I visited Calgary and chatted with a physio there, she was bemoaning the fact that it was now usually taken as a second degree now. She felt it was grossly unfair to make youngsters undertake that amount of learning before they could settle down, start on their career and get a life!

She blamed the Canadian habit of "trying to keep up with the US" in this, and further worried that it looked like the Americans are thinking of insisting that Physiotherapy is a doctorate profession!!!

The thing is, and I've a feeling it is true of other similar professions,.... there really is no need for the vast majority of phyiotherapists to be so academically qualified. The knowledge, on the whole, comes with experience on top of basic training, and what really makes a good phyiotherapist is the ability to encourage and motivate people to help themselves!!!

You don't need a doctorate for that!!!

Morw

Re: Come to Canada and starve!
 

About settling down, I'll second that. I need ANOTHER 2 years on top of my 4 years' undergrad to be a speech pathologist when in the UK a 3 or 4 year undergrad course will do. (3 year ugrad courses aren't accepted at all to do the Masters, here, it HAS to be 4 - I'm lucky I went to Uni in Scotland!). It's either that or teaching that I want to do, and there is no WAY I can be a teacher here as UK degrees as so specialised. Sorry, but I don't have 90 credits in arts, x credits in drama and y in geography!

I do think part of it is to do with keeping up with America; they've just changed their prerequisites for Audiologists to a PhD, i.e. you can't 'just' have a Masters to practice - they're not doctors, imagine the time, effort and money it'll take just to get the qualification. And then they say they're short of such professionals!

by the way - Spiff, are you still in Montreal? I'm looking to meet up with a few people 'cause it's been ages and I'm going mad in my own little half Quebec world not being able to discuss issues like these cultural ones. Not many people I know really get it!