Professional impacts

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 461.

Since 5 March 2008, with a conditional 3-year period of extension until March 2011, all pilots and air traffic controllers working in an international environment are required to have their professional licenses endorsed to prove that they have successfully passed an approved test demonstrating that they are at least at ICAO Operational Level 4. Without this endorsement, they are unable to work legally in an international environment.

Those test-takers having attained Level 4 or Level 5 are required to re-sit a test periodically; every three years is recommended at Level 4 and every six years at Level 5. Given that much operational communication is fairly routine and largely based on standard phraseology, pilots and controllers may not often be faced with situations which maintain a wider linguistic ability.

Therefore, success or failure in a proficiency test can determine whether a person retains his or her job or receives promotion: flying internationally, being promoted to captain, flying on larger aircraft, having greater responsibility as a controller, or not. Equally, at the bottom of the professional ladder, it will mean whether a person is hired or accepted for pilot or controller training. This will have immediate and possibly drastic effects on employees' incomes and life styles, especially for those already in positions of authority whose initial language training is probably more remote and was maybe less effective.

The testing obligations of the current Language Proficiency Requirements have a direct impact on how airlines and air navigation service providers manage the availability and training of their staff.

In a profession where levels of remuneration and social prestige are habitually high, where training is a long and costly process, and where there is currently a shortage of qualified staff, the threat of failing a language proficiency test is particularly acute for both the organisation and the individuals concerned.