Irish/ English language assessment by Public Appointments service

Faith and Justice

Applicants must
(A) (i) Have obtained an Irish Leaving Certificate with a grade D3 minimum in five subjects at ordinary level,
or
(ii) have a Level 5 Certificate (Major award) on the National Framework of
Qualifications (NFQ),
or
(iii) have a qualification that, in the opinion of the Quality and Qualifications
Ireland (QQI) is of a standard in terms of both level and volume of learning that is not lower than the standard of the qualification specified at (i) and (ii) above
AND
(B) Must have a proven proficiency in two languages, one of which must be Irish or English. Such competency may be proven by achieving the relevant grades or qualifications specified in (A) above, or for English or Irish through such assessments as set out by the Public Appointments Service.



I phoned up publicjobs when the campaign opened, and asked about the language proficiency. All they were willing to say was that my Irish will be assessed at the interview stage. This is because I dont meet the requirements for this campaign, yet I did for the last one.

Anyway my question is, Has anybody went through something similar to this before? does anybody know if the test will be aural or written?

Hitchroun

I am also very interested in this requirement, as I meet all the requirements but do not have formal education at NFQ level 5 in Irish or English. I have sent an e-mail regarding the English/Irish "assessments" by PAS but have no recieved a reply. I was planning on calling but it would seem unnecessary now. Did you press them for details in regards to the actual assessment?

I not exactly worried about the english assessment, but I don't have much experience with Irish since my Junior Certificate days and it would be nice to know what I'm up against. It is handy that we don't have to go off and do the leaving cert Irish/English modules though...

Faith and Justice

Hitchroun wrote: »

Did you press them for details in regards to the actual assessment?

When the campaign was opened up I phoned them asking about it and the person I spoke to didn't really know. They then got someone to phone me back and I explained my situation. The man on the phone said that we can apply, and at interview level it will be assessed.

I tried to press him and asked will the interview be in Irish, but he didn't give me a straight answer.

Hitchroun

Faith and Justice wrote: »

When the campaign was opened up I phoned them asking about it and the person I spoke to didn't really know. They then got someone to phone me back and I explained my situation. The man on the phone said that we can apply, and at interview level it will be assessed.

I tried to press him and asked will the interview be in Irish, but he didn't give me a straight answer.

Hopefully we'll get some solid answers from those who have taken the tests after January. Are you applying for this intake?

Faith and Justice

Hitchroun wrote: »

Hopefully we'll get some solid answers from those who have taken the tests after January. Are you applying for this intake?

Yes of course. I'm looking forward to it. How are you with Irish?

Hitchroun

Faith and Justice wrote: »

Yes of course. I'm looking forward to it. How are you with Irish?

Unfortunately I haven't touched it for many years, so it might as well be Chinese to me at this stage. I'll have to wait till next intake. I would be very interested in your experience this in-take though! Be sure to come back and keep us informed.

Hitchroun

Just an update on this matter, after some exchanges of e-mails between myself and the PAS it would appear that they don't intend to publish any information about the Irish language assessment. Before or after the assessment.
Basically you'll be going in blind and everyone after this intake will also be going in blind, hopefully some folks will post there experiences of the assessment (within the confines of T&C's) on here at some point after the assessments.

In the mean time better brush up on my Irish...

Jimmymcnulty86

Hi hitchroun
I was told that the Irish assessment would only be an oral no written exam and would be similar to the leaving cert oral examination to ordinary standard. You would be assest at interview stage while people who claim fluency will be asset then aswel but obviously to a higher level.
I wouldn't get to dogged down on the Irish though if you get that far nd then do a good interview the basics should get you threw the assessment you'd be surprised how words nd phrases u learned as far back as primary come back to you.
Good luck nd if your looking to do classes Gael linn do irish classes for adults.

Faith and Justice

Hitchroun wrote: »

Just an update on this matter, after some exchanges of e-mails between myself and the PAS it would appear that they don't intend to publish any information about the Irish language assessment. Before or after the assessment.
Basically you'll be going in blind and everyone after this intake will also be going in blind, hopefully some folks will post there experiences of the assessment (within the confines of T&C's) on here at some point after the assessments.

In the mean time better brush up on my Irish...

Thanks for that. At least we know what to expect now

blueforce

Some people may have done the leaving cert but only have English and French/Spanish/German/polish etc. how will they be assessed in the irish?

Hitchroun

blueforce wrote: »

Some people may have done the leaving cert but only have English and French/Spanish/German/polish etc. how will they be assessed in the irish?

They won't be assessed in Irish, you must have English or Irish AND a another language.

For example you can have,

English, Irish.
English, Polish.
Irish, Polish.

All of the above would meet the reqs.

jones10

Hi all, Did anyone receive any further information on what sort of language assessment would be set out by the Public Appointments Service?

KERSPLAT!

We've a general thread here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057148165 for the Irish Stream, might be best to ask there

Thanks

-KERSPLAT!