In the Standard . . . one third of English teachers who took the proficiency exam this year failed:

In a major embarrassment, 203 English-language teachers must switch to other subjects or face the sack in September after failing to meet the government’s language proficiency requirements. That represents a third of just over 600 teachers who had to meet the requirement this year.

The government has set new standards and is planning that all teachers who are newly employed must pass while the older teachers have ways to avoid the exam, but even these must take a course. Eventually, the system will be in place to require proficiency.

There’s a great deal of controversy on all sides of this one. See the article for more details.