Starting in June, Langara Continuing Studies is offering a preparation course for the Canadian English Language Benchmark Assessment for Nurses (CELBAN).
As an assessment tool, the CELBAN is designed to determine the English proficiency of nurses who are internationally educated and interested in applying for their license in the nursing profession in Canada.
“It’s great to see this avenue getting more popularity”, says course instructor Jeff Madigan. “There are many barriers to becoming a nurse in Canada, so having an English test rooted in the knowledge nurses know helps showcase their English fluency. A lot of students find the CELBAN test easier than the IELTS exam.”
Langara’s 40-hour course is a pathway program that will provide students with real working scenarios, practical situations, and opportunities to improve their communications skills and fluency in the run up to taking the CELBAN. In many ways, it also compliments other programs in Langara’s esteemed nursing program, such as the SIMS, trainings where student nurses work in simulation labs running through various medical scenarios to hone in both their clinical and interpersonal skills.
Two course schedules are being offered as flexible options for nurses with busy lives and full calendars. The weekday program takes place on Wednesday evenings (with one Saturday included) and the weekend program takes place on Saturday mornings.
Recognized by national nursing licensing bodies, CELBAN is managed by a national entity – The CELBAN Centre – and administered by test sites across Canada. Nurses may take the benchmark assessment under three conditions: they are interested in being registered by a provincial regulatory body, they were previously educated as a registered nurse in another country, and they have a native language other than English.
In 2002, Statistics Canada estimated that in 2016, Canada would experience a shortage of 113,000 registered nurses; an alarming number that would significantly impact the quality of the country’s health care system. Internationally educated nurses were identified as a solution to help ease the projected shortage, and a survey from over 50 professional nursing stakeholder organizations across Canada found that a nursing language assessment tool would be of benefit and necessary to put this program in place. After comprehensive project development and planning, the CELBAN was implemented in 2004.
More information contact : Jeff Madigan 604-417-9674 jeffreymadigan@langara.bc.ca