MONTREAL, Que. – More than 1,600 people wrote the French exams administered last year by the Office quebecois de la langue francaise to qualify for a permanent license to practise their profession.
Although some wrote the exam more than once, the overall success rate was among the lowest in recent years at 38.6 per cent.
Next month, Dawson College plans to offer a new tutorial course to help prepare people in the health field for the OQLF’s French exam.
The 42-hour non-credit course is aimed at anyone who works in the health field and needs to pass the test, and will run from Feb. 10 to May 12 at a cost of $275.
"There are four sections to the exam, and it will address each section," said Nadia Bissada, manager of Dawson’s Centre for Training & Development.
Bissada came up with the idea for the course after reading newspaper accounts about health professionals who couldn’t pass the exam and were leaving the province.
"It’s a waste for the province -for the people who made their life here," Bissada said.
People who attended French or English high schools in Quebec aren’t required to take the test.
But it’s mandatory for those who have done their high school education outside the province to obtain their permit from Quebec’s 46 professional orders, including nursing and engineering.
"It’s not an exam that’s really difficult," said Martin Bergeron, a spokesperson for the OQLF.
"It’s something that allows to see if the person is able to interact with other people in French."
There are different exams and three degrees of difficulty, Bergeron said.
An engineer, for example, could take the same exam as someone in another profession if the same degree of difficulty in French is required.
The four parts of the test are oral and written comprehension and oral and written expression.
The latter is the hardest part, Bergeron said.
People who have a diploma from outside Quebec and settle here have access to a one-year temporary work permit that can be renewed three times, Bergeron said. To be eligible for a permit renewal, candidates have to take the French test at least once during a year.
"It gives people four years to learn French sufficiently to be able to practice their profession."
Dawson students who have to write the OQLF’s French exam can get help from the college’s French-language learning centre.
The college recently finished evaluating its nursing program and "one of the things that we discovered, much to our surprise, is that French is a bigger problem for many of our students than we thought it was," said Robin Simmons, a professor in the program and its former chairperson.
The program admits many students from outside the province -primarily from outside Canada, said Simmons, who estimated that 20 to 25 per cent of its students in a given year will have to write the French exam.
"Many of our students who come in with less than college-level French are struggling," she said.
Dawson will implement a revised nursing program next fall "where we are really looking at supporting this group of students," such as incorporating more French in some nursing courses, Simmons said.
Students will also take their French courses earlier in the program because staff want them to write the OQLF’s French exam while they are still at the college and have access to its resources.
The new course is a bonus "that hopefully some of our students will have access to," Simmons said.
For some, the French exam is very difficult and others become quite well-prepared and get through it, she said. "They’re all very anxious about it. That’s really very clear."
In addition to offering the course, Dawson is also hosting a free information session on Monday for students, graduates and professionals who must pass a OQLF’s French exam to obtain a permanent licence to practice their profession.
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