Did you hear the one about the Irish Vet who failed an English speaking test? No this is not one of those ‘Irish’ jokes that belong to a long gone era. Louise Kennedy, who holds two university degrees, was told that her spoken English is not good enough to become an Australian resident because she scored 74 points in a computerised reading test, five shy of the 79 required to gain a visa. At first Ms Kennedy, who is originally from County Wicklow and who has been living and working as a vet in Queensland for the past two years, thought it was a mistake. As part of the test, the vet, who is married to an Australian and is expecting her first child soon, was required to read, write, and speak. The oral section was marked by a computer using voice recognition technology and Ms Kennedy believes flaws in the system are the reason for her not passing the test. Pearson, the company behind the test, is standing by its technology however Ms Kennedy has been offered the opportunity to resit the test free of charge due to “possible interference” caused by building work that was taking place outside the centre. Hmm not being able to cut out background noise, sounds like there’s a flaw in the system!
