Published December, 2025
The process for a certificate class change will change soon
Currently, midwives wishing to change from the inactive class to the general class and former registrants seeking to return to practise need to apply to the College. If the applicant does not meet active practice requirements, the College’s Registration Committee may need to review their application and recommend a requalification program.
This will change: starting on January 1, 2026, midwives requesting a class change from inactive to general, and former registrants applying to the College, may be asked to complete a competency-based assessment as part of their application. This will occur where there is a considerable deficiency in meeting active practice requirements.
Why is this change coming into effect?
In our 2021-26 Strategic Plan, we identified that we did not have an effective way to objectively assess if a midwife is able to return to practice from the inactive class. We also heard that our existing processes did not provide ways for inactive midwives and applicants seeking to return to midwifery to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and competencies they’ve maintained.
In response to this identified gap, the Registration Committee recently approved the new Competency-Based Assessment Program. Competency-based assessment is a tool that can objectively measure a midwife’s knowledge, skills, and judgement and inform a Registration Committee Panel’s requalification plan that is specific to the applicant. In turn, this will guide how the registrant transitions back into practise and clarify the level of support and resources their practice will need to provide.
Will I be required to complete competency-based assessment?
Practising midwives (those in the new registrant, supervised, transitional, or general class) will not be required complete competency-based assessment. Midwives in the inactive class who are seeking a class change to a practising class and former registrants applying to the College may be asked to complete competency-based assessment if there is a considerable deficiency in meeting active practice requirements.
FAQs
The College will introduce competency-based assessment in 2026 as a tool to help our Registration Committee develop customized requalification plans for applicants. Requalification plans are created when a candidate applies for recertification, or for a change from inactive to active class, and their application needs to be reviewed by a panel of the Registration Committee. More information about the new competency-based assessment tool is available on the College website and we’ve answered some commonly asked questions below. If you have any further questions, please contact the College at cmo@cmo.on.ca.
Competency-based assessment is a tool used to evaluate the knowledge, skills, and judgement of registered midwives based on the entry-level standards set in the Canadian Midwifery Regulators Council’s (CMRC) Canadian Competencies for Midwives (2022), Appendix to the Canadian Competencies for Midwives (2024) and the CMRC Self-Assessment Tool (2024). The assessment, developed in collaboration with other midwifery regulatory authorities in Canada and informed by midwives, is a structured oral examination that evaluates clinical reasoning across key competency areas.
A midwife requesting a class change who does not meet active practice requirements may be asked to complete a competency-based assessment as part of their application. This will occur where there is a considerable deficiency in meeting clinical practice requirements.
Former College registrants who are reapplying may also be asked to complete a competency-based assessment as part of their application. As above, the assessment will be required where there is a considerable deficiency in meeting clinical practice requirements.
The majority of midwives will not be required to complete a competency-based assessment. Only candidates going through one of the processes described above will be required to complete a competency-based assessment.
If you are making a class change from inactive to a practising class, and you meet clinical practice requirements, you will not complete a competency-based assessment.
If you are a midwife in a general registration class, you will not complete a competency-based assessment.
If you plan to apply for recertification, or for a change from inactive to general class, and your application needs to be reviewed by a panel of the Registration Committee, it is possible you would complete competence-based assessment, depending on whether you meet, or are close to meeting, active practice requirements.
The purpose of the competency-based assessment program is to provide a fair alternate route for certain registrants based on their experience level to return to full scope clinical practice.
The assessment provides an objective and standardized way to identify individual competency gaps and recommend development strategies ensuring returning midwives are competent in evidence-based clinical care, professional judgment, and inclusive practices. The outcome of each assessment informs the Registration Committee’s development of a customized requalification plan to enable a midwife to return to practice.
The competence-based assessment program will begin on January 1, 2026.
If you apply to the College for a class change, or reapply, before that date, the current process applies. If you apply for a class change or reapply on or after January 1, 2026, the College may require you to complete the competency-based assessment.
The assessment fee is of $1200.00 (inclusive of HST).
The Competency-Based Assessment Program operates on a cost-recovery model, meaning the fee is set to recover only the direct costs of delivering the program including compensating assessors for their time. In 2026, the College of Midwives of Ontario will offer a subsidized rate as the program launches for the first time. As such, the cost posted above does not reflect actual costs of the program.
The competency-based assessment is a structured oral examination conducted virtually via videoconference, by a panel of three assessors.
The assessment is a closed-book evaluation composed of eight evolving case scenarios.
Each scenario begins with a clinical case summary, including relevant client information such as demographic data, relevant health history, and presenting clinical concerns. Each case includes six to eight standardized questions and optional probes for use by the assessor to illicit more thorough responses. The approximate duration of the exam is three hours and includes a short break halfway through.
The competency-based assessment process may add time to the class change or registration process. Both the competency assessment and the Registration Committee review rely on external experts who are not full-time employees of the College in order to provide applicants with a customized requalification program.
While the College will make its best efforts to ensure the entire process is completed within six weeks, it may take longer based on the availability of reviewers.
Detailed information about the competency-based assessment is available at our Competency-Based Assessment Program page, and the Requalification Program Approval and Registrar Authorization Policy