dboy

Indeed.

bear-diesel

They have just moved the goal posts on this one tho. I had to take the nurse exam, could not believe how easy it was compared to the UK exam I took which was 5 essays. The exam over here is 350 prick and tick questions, I don't theink I have done this kind of assesment since I was at junior school. I would not mind the statement that everyone has to be of the same standard but when that standard is below what you have achieved I for one find it insulting. When I asked why my UK status was not tranferable I was told that no matter where you came from everyone had to pass the same exam.
OK, I hear you say, so why then has Alberta Health demoted registered nurses from the Phillipines to LPN status under the pretence of putting them thro a different assesment before deciding whether the nurses are allowed to take the RN? Some of whom I have to say are ecellent nurses with years of experience. Is this cheap labour for a while or are they now treating countries of origin differently?

rae

no its not, time redoing the course, how much it costs, does not come into the initial post or the arguments core, which i would of thought obvious and no need to constantly restate. i fail to see how this position can be defended personally, but clearly i am in the minority. also it seems to drift or deliberatlely pushed in another direction, don't see why, other agendas beyond me.

rae

you'll say this with some experience of the difference in qualifications required particular to me then, if this is aimed in my direction, if it is i would be interested to hear of your personal experience.

rae

3 months. 3 weeks rcmp, goes a long way to what i have been saying for a while. poor.

Alan2005

Was aimed at dboy's example - i have no idea what you had to do and couldn't possibly comment on it.

I have no personal experience of this at all either but I am sympathetic with anyone that has to 'retrain' to an inferior standard.

dboy

Not sure why you have an axe to grind with me or is it the RCMP? You don't know anymore about our course set ups as I do about yours (we have numerous courses of varying lengths for junior members).

And I find it very hard to believe that you don't cover law in a 3 month course, search and seizure comes to mind. Incidentally a copper from the UK may know how to secure a scene, set up a perimeter etc at a sudden death , but what about abiding by the Province's Coroners Act? - such as duty to notify, preserve any evidence, not remove the body or alter the scene etc - I sure hope they would cover that.

Incidentally I also lecture - courses offered through the cpc - had quite a few EPS officers on the last one.

There are 22000 members in the RCMP, some are 'poor' ( yes I've met them) but many are very good at what they do.

It's too bad Rae that you have such a chip on your shoulder I would have loved to have chatted with you about policing in Manchester and for that matter the EPS. I don't pretend to know it all and learn something new most days. Don't let that chip on your shoulder become a monkey on your back.

Stay safe out there

gary123

My wife had the same issue, had her teaching certificate and 7 years teaching on a degree course , would not accept it , but she had a BA in childhood early years studdies, excepted that straight away , no issues.

She can't be a teacher, but has been accepted as a teaching assistant , which is well paid, and still working with children , is this something you would think about?


Gary

newshoney

Why so much bitching? Why is this a problem?

How in hell do you think you are going to integrate in your new homeland if you can't play by their rules?

Each country has its own standards and entry qualifications... no matter what you did beforehand, you just have to satisfy the needs of the country you now find yourself in. To say: "it's a total insult to have to sit an inferior exam" is to suggest you arrogantly think you come from a superior system to an inferior one. Even if you can prove it empirically, it's not exactly a great way to endear yourself to your new compatriots, eh?

dboy

I agree to a point; however, if one had to take a minor course of some kind that required relatively little expense of time and money then fine. What is irking some though is when you are highly qualified/ trained at what you do but have to expend considerable energy in terms of money and time for no obviously apparent reason, driven more by protectionist attitudes than anything else.

I do sense though there is some of the 'I'm British' thing floating around. I never had any real qualifications anyway, not even a driver's license so it has never been an issue for me.

Almost Canadian

I find it amazing you have said this. Then again, it is easy to judge when you haven't.

Some of us have played by their rules and are commenting about the lack of level playing field. I knew what I had to do before I arrived and it was something that I was prepared to do. I do understand how others simply throw in the towel.

I don't think anyone has said otherwise.

It is saying no such thing. It is saying that the exams faced were inferior to the ones they previously had to write.

This is an expats site is it not - where else should one vent?

In my experience, the locals have a very hard time with even accepting there is a different system let alone a better one. For the most part the locals accept it is crazy.

Alan2005

Empirically proven arrogant assumptions eh? I'll have some of those please.

newshoney

Fair points AC... mine was a somewhat contentious opinion provoked by some of the more whiny posts.

Life isn't fair - but since when has there been a level playing field for new immigrants to any country? My Canadian-born relatives argue that they had to spend the time and money in gaining their qualifications, so why should an immigrant get an easier ride? And to paraphrase my nephew (who started his working life with a graduate's customary mega thousands of dollars of debt): what confidence could anyone have in a teacher/doctor/lawyer from overseas unless they meet the same standard as a home-trained one?

And for the record, I'm just as frustrated as many of the previous posters that my degrees, previous career etc. don't automatically entitle me to waltz into my career of choice in Alberta. Having weighed up the cost of attaining a further degree vs the theoretical benefits I too have to face facts and settle for a lesser alternative.

Almost Canadian

And that's the rub - how do you attain the "same standard"? I would argue that my law degree is every bit as good as a Canadian one.

The Canadian system forced me to write exams in subjects that I have been able to demonstrate competency in (they made me write Evidence when I practised for 10 years as a litigator in England) but did not make me write exams in subjects that I would argue I am less than competent in (I never practised criminal law in England so my knowledge is at least 12 years out of date and in another jurisdiction but they didn't make me write Criminal Law)

They also made me (and virtually every other foreign qualified lawyer I have met) write Taxation - a subject that no Canadian law school makes mandatory. Then again, the head of the assessing authority is a Canadian Tax Professor and his text book is the recommended reading for the Taxation syllabus. It is more than a little difficult not to feel slightly aggrieved by such crap.

Sorry to hear that

rae

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