What are the requirements for affiliation?

The STANDARDS required for application for the current year are available in the Become Affiliated section. Click here.

A NEW list of STANDARDS will be effective in January 2022. 

The Canadian Kinesiology Alliance (CKA) has established a new set of competencies to promote as the standards of the profession across Canada. These standards are the competencies deemed necessary to practise kinesiology in our country. This competency list will serve in decision making, such as in membership/affiliation registration requirements and in continuing education credit requirements.

The competency list includes as many university programs as possible in order to maximize access to membership.

These new standards will become effective as of January 2022.

The last review of competencies was performed in 2013. The CKA mandated its Membership, Standards & Continuing Education Committee to review the competency list, considering the many changes in the university curriculum over the past seven years.

An initial list of universities was established by consulting with PKAs, visiting the CKO and CCUPEKA websites (membership and accredited sections), and reviewing previous CKA lists. From a total of 92 university programs, 86 were considered; 6 programs were rejected for not having enough credits related to the science of kinesiology.

To the current CKA competency list, additional competencies were added as the analysis of the curriculum was performed, for a total of 54 competencies.

Gathered by visiting university websites, a list of programs related to kinesiology was established. For each program, the following information was recorded:

• Total credits to graduate
• Total core credits
• Total elective credits
• Credit value for one course
• List of competencies (as per current CKA competency list)

The revised competencies are as follows:

1. MINIMAL REQUIREMENTS
   1. 60 credits based on a 3-credit course
      or
      11 credits based on a 0.5-credit course
   2. Must include:
      Eight mandatory core competency courses
      and 14 elective kinesiology courses
   3. Note:
      1. Full-year courses lasting 72 to 80 hours (6.0 credits) may be considered as two courses of 3 credits.
      2. For Quebec universities, the credit equivalence of most university programs in other provinces is 75%, thus 40 credits, including six mandatory core courses.

2. THE LIST OF COMPETENCIES

   a) Core studies (eight mandatory courses):

    
   1. Human anatomy
   2. Physiology (human exercise)
   3. Biomechanics
   4. Psychomotor behaviour/motor control and learning
   5. Research design
   6. Statistics
   7. Exercise programs/prescription
   8. Fitness evaluation/assessment

   b) Elective studies (14 courses):

   1. Adaptive kinesiology
   2. Biochemistry
   3. Biology
   4. Chemistry
   5. Chronic conditions/diseases
   6. Computer science
   7. Ergonomics/human factors
   8. Exercise management/rehabilitation
   9. Exercise physiology/exercise or work
   10. Gerontology
   11. Health promotion and prevention for different populations
   12. Health science
   13. Human growth and development
   14. Human pathology
   15. Individual study (kinesiology)
   16. Information integration and judgment and care
   17. Instructional/functional measurement/evaluation in kinesiology
   18. Laboratory, tutorial, or practicum courses
   19. Leadership skills
   20. Neurophysiology
   21. Nutrition
   22. Organic chemistry
   23. Philosophy/ethics (kinesiology)
   24. Physics
   25. Psychology of movement
   26. Research project (kinesiology)
   27. Kinesiology (scope of practice)
   28. Sociology of movement
   29. Sports medicine
   30. Wellness

    

3. UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS NOT RECOGNIZED
   This list of competencies has been developed to include the majority of university programs, with the exception of the following, which have not been recognized for lack of scientific rigour. Graduating students of these programs are encouraged to take courses to acquire the scientific competencies required by the new standards before becoming an affiliate/member.

School	Program
Sheridan College	BSc Honours Athletic Therapy
U of Regina	Therapeutic Recreation
Dalhousie U	BSc Recreation – Therapeutic Recreation
Dalhousie U	BSc Recreation – Therapeutic Recreation, with honours
Memorial U of Newfoundland	BHKRC co-op – Therapeutic Recreation
U of Ottawa	Honours Bachelor of Human Kinetics – Intervention, Promotion, and Community Programming Option

 

4. COMPETENCIES EARNED BEFORE 2000

For competencies earned in programs when the term kinesiology was not widely used (circa 2000), the CKA invites candidates to submit a list of equivalent competencies earned either in their bachelor's degree related to physical activity, physical education, or other program names related to kinesiology or in continuing education activities. For each of the competencies required, you must submit the equivalent course on a transcript or proof of successfully achieving the competency in a continuing education activity after the bachelor's degree. The reliance on science-based competencies is mandatory. A brief course description for each competency will be required. The CKA is no longer accepting applicants who do not have the necessary competencies.

Become affiliated or renew your CKA affiliation