IPA in English

This document applies to companies where business is primarily conducted in English and where the technical supervisor (Vorgesetzte Fachkraft, VF) responsible for apprentices and their final examinations comes from an English-speaking background.

PK21, in consultation with the Office of Intermediate and Vocational Schooling of Canton Zurich (MBA, Mittelschul- und Berufsbildungsamt), permits candidates to conduct the entire examination in English, provided all of the following conditions are met:

1. The candidate must have regularly used English as a working language within the last 12 months.
2. The company and all relevant parties within it must agree.
3. The candidate chooses to do so voluntarily.
4. PK21 will not translate any of its documents, regulations, or criteria lists into English. This is the responsibility of the respective company.
5. Standard evaluation criteria — including clarity, spelling, expression, and linguistic style — apply equally to the English parts of the examination.

PK21 will not accept English as a fallback or last-resort option.

PK21 strongly encourages candidates to carefully consider this decision before choosing to take the vocational examination in English.

Scope

The rules in this document apply specifically to the following parts of the examination:

• Task Definition
• Validation
• IPA Report and all deliverables related to it
• Presentation
• Technical Discussion (Fachgespräch)

Product descriptions and specific customer related deliverables — such as program comments, interface descriptions, and user instructions — may be written in the language required by the customer.

Procedure

1. The candidate writes an entry in PkOrg History (Notification CEX) confirming that they have read this document and agree to the conditions.
2. The chosen language must be noted in the “topic” (“Thematik”) field on the PkOrg IPA title page (IPA English).
3. The Task Definition comment field must state which examination parts will be conducted in English:
   • Task Definition
   • Validation
   • IPA Report and all deliverables related to it
   • Presentation
   • Technical Discussion