SN146,
There is a lot of truth in what you say - the assessor's practical examination (over 1 - 1 1/2 days with a required 100% pass mark) is without doubt the hardest practical exam I have ever taken and it is not always easy to objectively score candidates, especially Level 3 - 4 marginal candidates.
Likewise, there are British dialects which are often very difficult to understand, especially over RT equipment. I recall many years ago interviewing an Irish lad from Strabane and I had to have an "interpreter" present as his dialect was incomprehensible. There are possibly some native English speakers who would only achieve Level 5, however, I would expect these to be the exception rather than the rule as the Level 6 ICAO Descriptor for Pronunciation states 'almost never interferes with ease of understanding' so it is acceptable for occasional difficulties to arise, which you
may find with regional UK dialects and
could expect with most non-native but fluent English speakers - that would not preclude them from achieving Level 6 unless it regularly interfered with understanding.
Conversely, I would expect the majority of non-native English speaking persons to be assessed below Level 6 and this is where the biggest problem creeps in as candidates are being signed off at Level 6 as the result of an 'informal assessment' when they are clearly nowhere near Level 6 - I see this on a very regular basis.
A typical conversation I often have when discussing assessments with foreign students is along the lines of:
"Why should I take the test now when I will be signed off at Level 6 in my Skills Test?"
"How can you guaranteee you will signed off as Level 6?"
"My friends told me; they did their training at XYZ and they were signed off as Level 6 and their English is much worse than mine".
BTW, the above foreign students' English is not usually up to the above standard - I wrote it that way for clarity of understanding.
Another student I know personally, who is at best Level 4 (and was a very marginal Level 4 when he was initially assessed - personally I would have assessed him at Level 3), claims to have been told by one flight school that he will be assessed at Level 6 during his Skills Test provided he does his training with this particular school. That's one way of securing business.
These are very dangerous precedents to set and make a complete mockery of the whole rationale behind introducing English language testing in the first place. What is the point of having an English Language Testing system if it's not going to be rigidly applied and to be perfectly honest it seems that the UK is leading the way in misapplication of the ICAO Language requirements. In one native English speaking country I know of all candidates are formally tested, regardless of fluency in English, if the candidate is going to be flying internationally. That may seem to be excessive but it certainly dots the i's and crosses t's.
As I stated previously I have no problem with informal assessment of candidates at Level 6 by examiners provided that the candidate is without any doubt fluent in English but where any doubt exists that candidate MUST be referred for formal assessment...........before his misunderstanding of an ATC instruction kills someone (the avoidance of which was the foundation for this whole system of standardisation and assessment in the first place). I am quite certain any subsequent enquiry into a serious incident which revealed an incorrect action by a pilot as the result of a misunderstanding of any instruction owing to a poor standard of English when he had been signed off at Level 6 could result in serious allegations and even claims for compensation in this world of never ending litigation in which we live. I'm not saying that WOULD happen, just that it could.
However, I can empathise with examiners as I know from experience that it's not always easy to sign someone off at a lower level when that person is convinced and insistent that their English is of a higher standard than it actually is. Recently we assessed someone at Level 4 who insisted on being a Level 6 English Assessor in their own country, which did not go down too well. So telling someone, "You've passed your Skills Test but your English isn't up to scratch and needs formal assessing before you can apply for your licence" would be very demoralising for the candidate and can't be easy.
