To achieve a credential a student must have met all of the credential requirements associated to that credential. Credential requirements are 'met' when they are achieved by the student or exempted.

The Guide to Education outlines specific situations for which credential requirements can and should be exempted along with the rules for applying them. The system has been designed to allow schools to enter “approved exemptions” directly in PASIprep. Currently, school information systems are not integrated with PASI for credential related functionality so they will use PASIprep for the time being. Schools are responsible for abiding by the rules and regulations in the Guide to Education and must keep the appropriate documentation. The Ministry can audit these approved exemptions.

In some cases, schools must make a request for a credential requirement exemption to the Ministry. This can either be because there is no prescribed exemption (exemption reason) for the requirement or the student situation does not satisfy the rules defined in the Guide (validated and implemented by the system). Staff within specific Ministry departments are responsible for checking and approving/denying these requests.

An “exemption reason” exists in PASI for every common “reason” defined in the Guide to Education. PASI validates that schools are following the rules tied to each reason by applying validation rules. Also, each exemption reason is linked to a security role so only specific users are able to apply specific exemption reasons.

Note: Please ensure this information is up to date. It is here for ease of access and to guide business process and implementation decisions. The processes are policies listed here are from the Guide to Education and should be confirmed on a yearly basis.

All of the CALM exemption reasons below should be applied by schools in approved status.

• The CALM Ministerial exemption reason can be applied to any Career and Life Management credential requirement. It is applied when parents make written requests to the Minister.

• The CALM Out-of-Province exemption reason can be applied to any Career and Life Management credential requirement. It is applied when a student transfers to Alberta in Grade 10.

• Mature student's are still “exempt” from the CALM and Physical Education requirements. However, it's more accurate to state that Mature students are not expected to meet these requirements. The system is responsible for calculating the maturity status of the student and will automatically set the credential requirement to 'Achieved' rather than the school or Ministry applying an exemption reason.

All of the Physical Education exemption reasons below should be applied by schools in approved status.

• Physical Education-Medical
• Physical Education - Medical
• Physical Education - Out Of Province] * [[PhysEdReligious-82210|Physical Education - Religious

The Francophone Entered Alberta exemption reason is applied by schools in approved status.

The system is designed to allow schools to allow schools to facilitate the awarding of a Certificate of School Completion to a student. The system validates if the requirements are met and sets them to “Achieved” when appropriate. However, in some cases the school does not meet the criteria set out in the requirement. In these cases the school will request a Criteria Exception and staff from Learner Services will update the status to “Approved”.

A Special Cases requirement exemption can be applied to any credential requirement at the discretion of Special Cases.

A Student Records Criteria Exception requirement exemption can be applied to any credential requirement at the discretion of Student Records. This exemption reason should be applied when there are system issues that prevent the appropriate user from applying the necessary exemption.

There are two primary scenarios and one alternate scenario in this process.

entercredentialrequirementexemption.vsdx

This scenario begins when a School has approved an exemption for a credential requirement for a student. Typically, the student (or parent of the student) and the school will discuss the need for an exemption. It is the responsibility of the school to align the exemption with a prescribed guideline in the Guide to Education. The school must also keep any necessary documentation in relation to the exemption.

1) School user uses the Add Credential Requirement Exemption screen in PASIprep to submit a Credential Requirement Exemption in approved status.

2) If credential requirement exemption is accepted by PASI and the associated credential requirement is 'met'.

2a) When the credential requirement exemption is rejected by PASI the school user may end the process. The school may also ask the Ministry to apply a Special Cases exemption (process continues in step 3 of the the Alternate Scenario #1 below).

This scenario begins when the school contacts Special Cases directly and asks for a credential requirement exemption to be applied. These type of requests are for exemptions for requirements where no prescribed exemption reason exists.

1) School contacts Special Cases about exemption request

2) Special Cases reviews the request and if required applies a Special Cases exemption in PASIprep using the Add Credential Requirement Exemption screen.

This scenario begins when the exemption cannot be submitted in approved status and must be requested by a school and then approved by the Ministry.

1) School user uses the Add Credential Requirement Exemption screen in PASIprep to submit a Credential Requirement Exemption in requested status.

2) Ministry staff use the List Credential Requirement Exemption screen to review exemption requests.

3) Ministry staff approved or deny the exemption requests using the Edit Credential Requirement screen in PASIprep.

Not Applicable.