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In deciding whether to approve a Professional Development Program (PDP) course, the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) Professional Development Committee will take the following risk management purposes into account:
- Protecting the general public and REALTORS® in real estate transactions;
- Enabling REALTORS® to better serve the objectives of consumers in real estate transactions;
- Protecting the general public and REALTORS® in real estate transactions;
- Enabling REALTORS® to better serve the objectives of consumers in real estate transactions;
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Only the following bodies or persons may be approved education providers:
- Publicly recognized continuing education institutions;
- Real estate related institutes and associations recognized by the profession;
- Individuals who have been approved by BCREA as having the requisite expertise and training to offer a continuing education course for REALTORS®;
- Any other body or person approved by BCREA as having the requisite expertise and training to offer a continuing education course for REALTORS®.
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Education provider approval, other than for pre-approved education providers, is for specific courses set out in the approval letter and does not carry over to other courses.
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Courses provided by all approved education providers must be open and available to all board members. For purposes of this paragraph, "open and available" means:
- Information about courses will be provided to any REALTOR® who requests it; and
- Courses that qualify for PDP credits shall be offered to all REALTORS® on a first-come, first-served basis.
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An education provider shall include in any material that is distributed in connection with a course the following statement—The [name of provider] is solely responsible for the content of the material used in this course.
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BCREA cannot grant approval of any course(s) in arrears. In order to obtain approval of any course(s) for accreditation, education providers must submit a completed application form and comprehensive curriculum package to BCREA. Deficient applications will not be processed.
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The initial approval of an education provider, other than in cases where providers are pre-approved, shall remain in effect for a period of one year. For example, if an outside provider were initially approved on February 23, 2010, course accreditation would remain active up to, and including, February 23, 2011.
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All education providers, other than those who are pre-approved, must apply for an extension of course accreditation and approval on an annual basis. In order to avoid processing delays, and possible disruption of the accredited offering of their course(s), outside providers need to ensure that BCREA receives an application for extension no later than four weeks prior to the date their approval is due to expire.
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Upon request, an education provider shall provide BCREA with the following information concerning any course being offered: the title of the course; the date(s), time(s), and location(s) the course is being offered; the cost of the course, the name of the instructor, the number of PDP credit hours for the course, and the phone/fax/email address for the education provider. At BCREA’s sole discretion the previously listed information may be posted on BCREA’s website.
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Within ten days of a course, an education provider must issue a Certificate of Completion to each REALTOR® completing a course. The education provider must retain proof that a REALTOR® has completed a course for a period of four years.
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Instructors for PDP courses must possess expertise in their field, appropriate teaching experience, and/or prior completion of BCREA’s Train-the-Trainer program or equivalent formal training from another source.
BCREA may refuse to allow a person to be an instructor for a PDP course if, in the opinion of BCREA, that person is not suitable to teach that course.
At any time BCREA may require that an approved education provider submit to BCREA a course evaluation form from each member who attended a course
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PDP is designed to support relevant and timely courses specifically applicable to the practice of real estate. Educational offerings are not appropriate for accreditation if they are any of the following:
- Not directly related to real estate practices;
- A promotional, orientation or marketing session;
- An office skills or personal development topic such as computer technology, personal motivation; time management or sales psychology;
- A sales meeting or other meeting held in conjunction with real estate practices; or
- A meeting that is a normal part of in-house training.
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Each PDP course shall have:
- Content suitable for practicing REALTORS®;
- A minimum of three (3) hours of instruction;
- A course outline reflecting the course purpose and clear learning objectives;
- A lesson plan that guides the instructor’s effective organization and presentation of material;
- A course evaluation form to monitor the offering’s success;
- Comprehensive and high-quality course materials; and
- Where appropriate, materials that contain references to applicable federal and provincial laws, including the Real Estate Services Act (RESA) and The Canadian Real Estate Association’s REALTOR® Code.
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BCREA may approve the use of distance learning methods for the delivery of courses that are suitable for this form of learning. For REALTORS® in remote locations this may be a more cost-effective way to complete their PDP requirements. Initial education provider approval, however, other than in cases of pre-approved education providers, will be limited to those offering classroom-based courses only.