English Language Proficiency
Requirements
It is a requirement
to be proficient in English to work in Australia and New Zealand.
If your secondary schooling was not in English, then you will have
to comply with the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
requirement. You should familiarize yourself with the IELTS
requirements detailed below. You should book yourself into a
course and thereafter sit for the IELTS test as soon as possible
if you have NOT got proof of English proficiency. For information
see Australian English Language Proficiency Requirements.
Note, the
requirements for New Zealand are different and you will need a
slightly greater level of English proficiency.
Australian
English Language Proficiency Requirements
From 1 July 2005,
all jurisdictions of Australia and the Australian Medical Council
(AMC) have agreed to adopt the same English language policy as
follows:
IELTS - A minimum
score of 7 in each of the four categories, as well as an overall
bandscore of 7. English language results must have been obtained
within 2 years prior to applying for registration. (However, an
IELTS or approved equivalent test report form which is more than
two years old, will be accepted as evidence of present level of
ability if accompanied by proof that the applicant has actively
maintained employment as a medical practitioner in a country where
English is the native or first language).
Exemption from English
language testing: A practitioner can be considered exempt if
they provide documentary evidence of having completed their
secondary education in a country where English is the native or
first language.
For more information
go to the International English
Language Testing System’s website
New Zealand Language
Proficiency Requirements
The New Zealand
Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 require the
Medical Council of New Zealand to ensure that any person given
registration to practice medicine in New Zealand is able to
communicate in and comprehend English sufficiently to protect the
health and safety of the public, and for the purposes of practicing
within a scope of practice in which they are registered.
Doctors applying for
registration, will be required to have achieved an overall band of
7.5 or above in the academic module of International English
Language Testing System within the last two years. A minimum band
of 7 is required in each of the four individual components of the
test (listening, reading, writing and speaking).
The Test of English
as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Occupational English Test (OET)
are not accepted by the Medical Council of New Zealand as
alternatives to IELTS.
Exemptions to English
language testing:
1. Graduates from
New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Republic of
Ireland, the United States, Canada and some South African medical
schools where English is the sole language of instruction, and
where English is the graduate’s first language, are able to
comprehend and communicate effectively in English and therefore
are not required to pass an approved English test.
2. If you can evidence
that you have worked continuously as a registered doctor in an
organisation where English was the first and prime language for at
least two years within the five years immediately prior to
application and the names and contact details of at least two
senior doctors who speak English as a first language, and who can
attest to the applicant’s ability to comprehend and communicate
effectively in English in a clinical setting with both patients
and professional colleagues. Referees will be contacted directly
by he Medical Council.
For more information
go to the International English
Language Testing System’s website
