The provincial language watchdog determined francophone nursing students were put at a disadvantage after a new exam was selected by the Nurses Association of New Brunswick.
A recently released report confirms complaints to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages in July 2016, alleging students taking their licensing exams in French had access to poor quality translations and limited preparation materials. The investigation found a significant gap in resouces available to francophone, versus anglophone students including no simulation exam, only one French-language question bank tool, and a limited number of practice questions.
After the new exam was introduced in 2015, the first time pass rate for Université de Moncton students plummeted to 32 per cent, down from 91 per cent a year before.
In comparison, the first time pass rate for nursing students at UNB who also took the same exam dropped from 91 per cent in 2014, to 58 per cent in 2015. It improved thte following year to 71 per cent, while U de M numbers only climbed slightly to 39 per cent.
Of particular concern in the report, was the number of students who chose to take their exam in French versus English after the switch to the NCLEX-RN exam.
In 2015, 83 per cent of students chose French, while that dropped to 62 per cent in 2016, and by last year was at 47 per cent, marking a precipitous drop.
The Commissioner ordered the Nurses Association of New Brunswick to ‘take the necessary actions so that requirements to enter the nursing profession in New Brunswick fully respect subsection 41.1(3) of the Official Languages Act of New Brunswick’, and to report back to the Office by September 4th, 2018.
The full report can be found HERE.
