Specialist Language Courses (SLC) have been named the first English language training company in the UK and Europe to be accredited by the Occupational English Test (OET) as a Premium Provider of OET test preparation courses – one of only 5 worldwide.

The OET has just been announced by the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as an alternative to Academic IELTS as an English assessment for international nurses wishing to register to work in the UK. The OET is a test of Medical English with Nursing-specific tests of Writing and Speaking. Nurses in the UK need a Grade B – equivalent to a C1 – or advanced level of English.

Earlier this year SLC published a white paper, featuring research conducted by Sussex Innovation, highlighting several issues with the IELTS assessment and suggesting that reliance on it might cause nursing shortages in the UK.

SLC have spent many months going through a rigorous process with OET to ensure that their team is ready to prepare candidates for the test. The accredited OET assessment and training programme prepares nurses by giving them the language and test techniques they need to achieve the B grade in the 4 papers. Courses are taught by experts, and progress is reported and tracked using highly developed online systems.

SLC’s Head of Medical English, Virginia Allum, has been writing materials and coaching candidates for 6 years. She is supported by the Academic Director and teaching team.

“I’ve been waiting for years for the OET to be finally recognised in the UK,” commented Virginia, “So, I’m really pleased with the NMC decision and that nurses can now take a test of their clinical English to show they have the right language skills to work here in the UK.”

Specialist Language Courses are experts in business and technical language training.