Fair Practices Policy

The BCAK has established fair practice policies for those who apply for membership. The policies are based on the BCAK's Assessment Framework for the Development of Accreditation Standards, and incorporates the following principles:

1. Set and administer consistent, reasonable standards for members, and those who wish to become members.
2. Establish standards based on education, experience, examinations, character and currency of qualifications. This ensures that all BCAK affiliated professional kinesiologists have similar skills and qualifications upon becoming a member, although in practice they may add to them. This helps to reduce risks that might be posed to the public and consumers of kinesiology services from BCAK members based on a lack of competency or skills.
3. Establish procedures and standards which are respected by existing regulated health professions in B.C. and other parts of Canada.
4. Ensure consistent and transparent requirements and outputs, while ensuring an entry level of competency and public safety is maintained.
5. Harmonize the assessment of qualifications, so that assessments are completed in a consistent and fair manner in B.C. and to promote these standards to other areas of Canada where the practice of kinesiology is not regulated. This helps to improve labour mobility of kinesiologists and provide national consistency for competence in the absence of provincial health professions regulation.
6. Align the processes used to accredit practitioners with the requirements of the Health Professions Act of BC and the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), including meeting any standards set by government for fair business practices under the Business Practice and Consumer Protection Act of BC.
7. Promote clarity of expectations related to BCAK membership, while allowing for improved communication of the process requirements for both Canadian and internationally educated and trained applicants. This principle helps to facilitate mutual understanding and agreed use of consistent terminology. It provides benchmarks for quality control and assurance related to the assessment process and outcomes of professional membership decisions. It also aims to facilitate efficiency in the processes used by the BCAK.

The principles have been developed to harmonize admissions methods and policies and to create a more transparent policy for both domestically and internationally trained applicants seeking BCAK membership. They have been designed with the basic principles of fairness, transparency, timeliness, consistency, and reliability embedded throughout.