re: Canadian registration(Ontario and I guess the whole of Canada)

I am a landed Immigrant here in Canada. I am having a hard time getting through with it because as a partial result of the credentialling it stated that i do not pass the school-year requirement. In the Phil. it's 15 years from primary til finishing a bachelor's degree excluding kindergarten and nursery school. Why is that so? I am trying to satisfy them with regards to the coursework requirement for I feel that all the topics which they stated we lack in the curriculum is being worked on. I have been hearing that if you don't complete the school-year requirement they will ask you to go back to school which is stupid because the coursework requirement is more important because that where lie the practise. Going back to school will be wasted rather spent on a masteral program. I am just irked by a comment of a Canadian that education here is of the highest standards or was it that they just don't accept that standards can also be met and achieved by other countries.

Also the regulators should have a separate criteria for evaluating professionals already as against graduating students. Professionals have already developed skills based on their education for the delivery of physiotherapy services. I mean wouldn't it be more secure that the applicant has already license in their country of origin?

I hope this would open the line of thinking of the regulators especially as a child of Trudeau who advocated social justice.

Pretty annoying, isn't it? We can treat patients in our own country in a professional way, yet they won't let us in their country. To me (see reg. probs in NZ in this forum) it's also a way to get money out of us. I paid about US$1400 ($200/subject) to do the assessment exams/assignments. Plus $150 for the registration application. And I don't have anything yet. Hearing this, most people would have given up already. With the Kiwi's going overseas (where they do get accepted, how typical) and NZ's red tape, it's no wonder NZ is running empty on qualified professionals.

Pardon me for the mistakes in this message. I hurriedly done it but I will get back to this and will soon correct it bec. I have to go to work.

This is follow up on my hardships here in Canada. It's been a while that I haven't visited this site. Thanks for the reply from JUDY and ---------.

I have suggested them an alternative basis for eligibility to sit for the exam like having to consider Canadian work experience under General Practitioner Medical Doctor's supervision (public clinic) and a minimum supervision from a Physiotherapist(private clinic), credits from the seminars I have attended in my country of origin as part of our continuing education program towards the renewal of our license and also here in Canada, international recognition of education other than the country of origin and in my case a US license and also a scholastic standing in school. This is to show that if they really want to screen the good eggs from amon the applicants. I have told them about the Prior Learning Assessment and Remediation (PLAR) Program that they have which states that credits are given to education and experience taken outside the academic physiotherapy. This is exactly what my suggestion was but they told me that they don't have any mechanism to evaluate it. GEEZE!!!! Then they should one!

I have mentioned in my previous message about the frivolous deficiency of the Schoolyear gap which is 1 year= 36 University credits. I have stated to them if they could consider the course in my Masters program. They did but the problem is about the unfair comparison that they did on my Masters program because they didn’t equate the evaluation of my course credits against the same level of my education. The point of comparison that they made in my Masters is at the level of the undergraduate study. I told them that they have to take note that the course was taken as a POSTGRADUATE study meaning the equivalency of the number of course credits is less than the consideration under the Bachelors degree or any regular degree taken in the University for that matter. Meaning the interpretation for the one-year gap will not be as 36 credits but the number of equivalent credits needed to complete a full year in a Masters program. Let us say that an approximate number of course credits in a full year for a Masters program is 18 considering that each course has 3 credits. Of course, It will pale in comparison with the number of credits needed to complete a full year in the Bachelor's degree versus a Masters degree.

In order to comply with the gap, I have to go back to shool for a year(after the consideration made on my Masters course, it is now 33 credits). The advice given to me is I could take whichever course that I like and not what is necessary. Meaning the "upgrading" studies is not necessary. I know of a colleague that when she spoke to those people in the regulatory body she was even suggested that she could take musci courses. How (you supply the irritating adjective) ?

I have a German colleague who has worked in Germany for 10 years as Physiotherapist and her assessment from the regulatory body showed that she's being asked to go back to school for 4 years which is an equivalent of going through the education again. Isn't that silly? She sought another assessment from a non-profit organization World Education Services(www.wes.org) which has recently been recognized by the Ontario province to evaluate foreign-trained credentials. The German Physiotherapist credential is equivalent to a Secondary diploma not a post secondary one. She's trying to clarify the interpretation from the administartors. So another apdate will follow abou this. But what is not surprising is that they have representative from the regulatory body who in the first place rejected her Phsyiotherapy education.

Aside from considering the number of schoolyears as a criteria, they look at the status of the school offering the degree, that is whether it is a University or a College one. What does it have to do with it? The only important thing in protecting the public interest with regards to the delivery of health care is whether the applicant has the knowledge and skills in doing the profession. Meaning the evaluation of the course content of the degree is the absolute/ important criteria in determining the capability of the applicant.

One article in the newspaper quoted a Minister of the Universities, Trainings and Colleges that foreign-trained professionals here in Canada have only negligible shortcomings with regards to complying with the requirements set by the different regulatory body.

It just sometimes makes you depress when you are confronted by this illogical problems.

thanks clarence for the information. We all share your frustration yet applaud you and your associates in your fight to reconcile archaic practices.

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

Yes , I faced the similar problem