
Candidacy Status
What is Candidacy Status?
Candidacy Status is a pre-requisite for occupational therapist assistant and physiotherapist assistant education programs in Canada to enter the accreditation process. Candidacy status indicates a formal affiliation with the Occupational Therapist Assistant & Physiotherapist Assistant Education Accreditation Program (OTA & PTA EAP), and an intention to complete an accreditation review within 6 years. A program has to meet several key requirements including guidelines around curriculum, fieldwork hours, and staff qualifications in order to obtain Candidacy status.While Candidacy Status denotes a formal affiliation of the education program with the OTA & PTA EAP, it does not assure future attainment of accreditation status.
Applying for Candidacy Status
OTA/PTA education programs applying for candidacy status must submit:- Candidacy Status application form (FORM-01)
- Preliminary report, including evidence to demonstrate compliance with the candidacy status criteria (FORM-02)
- Candidacy Status application fee (see GUIDE-03 Fee Schedule)
To the right you can download the Candidacy Application Package, which includes the application forms and a copy of ACC-14 Candidacy Status, which outlines the process in further detail.
Once an education program has submitted the required documentation for review, and has been successful in demonstrating compliance with the candidacy status criteria, the Joint Accreditation Committee will award the program candidacy status. The program will then be scheduled for a full accreditation review.
The Joint Accreditation Committee meets twice a year to review submissions, usually in March and October. The next scheduled Joint Accreditation Committee meeting is March 3 & 4, 2025.
Candidacy Status applications received between December 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025 will be reviewed in October 2025.
If you are preparing an application for Candidacy Status, please contact our Program Manager so that we can answer any questions, and add your application to the agenda of an upcoming Joint Accreditation Committee meeting.
Maintenance of Candidacy Status
Candidacy status is awarded for a maximum of six years and is rescinded when a program is awarded accreditation status or if a program does not continue to demonstrate compliance with candidacy status criteria. Maintenance of candidacy status requires:- submission of an annual accreditation report (online survey)
- payment of an annual fee (GUIDE-03-Fee Schedule)
- reporting of any substantive change in an education program which may affect compliance (ACC-07 Substantive Change)
- use of required text to publicly disclose candidacy status, if choosing to publish candidacy status (GUIDE-01 Candidacy Status; ACC-09 Disclosure)
