While it is considered safe and desirable to work out during pregnancy our courses can be quite demanding, and have not been tailored for pregnant women. We do not accept registration into our courses from students who are knowingly pregnant. Under certain circumstances permission may be granted for select workshops. Requests must be submitted in writing to the Senior Program Director, Education at least 30 days prior to the workshop date.

We allow auditing of the following courses if a student has previously taken them: IMP, IR, ICAD, ICHR, IBRL, AM, AR, ACAD, ACHR, or ABRL. We also allow auditing of the ISP course if taken post-June 2007 to present. We do not however, allow auditing of any Functional Anatomy course and any of the workshops we offer (CEC / introductory) as the main goal of the workshops is continuing education and not certification.

All auditing request must first be approved in advance in writing by our education department.

Please note that when auditing a course, you are asked to observe the course; active participation in the course would not be advised unless specifically invited to by the instructor trainer during the session. Any questions or remarks you may have would need to be addressed to the instructor trainer during the breaks if time allows. This is to ensure that students who registered to participate in the course will get the full attention of the instructor trainer.

It is strongly advised that make-up hours are done as soon as possible after they are missed - especially if it occurs in the middle of a course. This allows students to cover the missed material prior to returning to the course. Please note that this is done in private review at the student’s expense. Students have six months to make up any hours missed. If they exceed this timeline, the course is forfeited and the entire course must be retaken in order to examine and certify.

Matwork, Reformer, Cadillac, Chair and Barrels Essential courses: Less than five hours of a course - 2:1 ratio of hours missed to hours made up (i.e. students need to make up half the time in private review). More than five hours of a course – 1:1 ratio of hours missed to hours made up (i.e. students need to make up the entire time in private review).

ISP and Advance courses: Any make-up hours for these courses are done on a 1:1 ratio due to the density of the course material and the expectation that it will take the same amount of time to teach one student as to teach a group.

Note: As a Licensed Training Center we will inform Merrithew via the submitted class list that a student has not completed a course. A note will be made on the student's file. A letter of completion will be sent to the student when we will confirm that that the student has completed the remaining hours.

Upon successful completion of the exam, students are considered certified instructors from their exam date. If the student takes the exam on two separate days, the latter date is the date that they may refer to themselves as a Certified Instructor. CECs are then earned the next full calendar year after one becomes certified, regardless of what month they examine in.

Audio or video recordings of courses being taught is strictly prohibited. If there are exceptional circumstances that make this necessary, the student must apply for and receive express written permission from the Senior Program Director, Education and sign a contract restricting its use. This policy is to help us avoid any infringement on our intellectual property.

Observation hours can be logged during or after the course and can be accrued by watching a STOTT PILATES Certified Instructor teach clients, as well as observing the relevant course package DVDs. We recommend that 80% of observation hours be completed by watching a Certified Instructor teach. Please contact us on education@real-pilates.com to arrange for observation.

Candidates must be at least 18 years of age to participate in any STOTT PILATES® course, workshop or examination.

Special exam accommodations may be arranged for students with disabilities or circumstances that prevent them from taking the STOTT PILATES written examination as outlined in our regular procedures. In order to be considered, a formal request supporting the student's situation must be provided to the Program Director, Education at least 30 days prior to the scheduled examination date. MERRITHEW reserves the right to determine the reasonableness of the accommodation requested.

MERRITHEW takes dishonest and unethical behaviour very seriously. If a student is found to have cheated on any exam a mark of zero will be recorded for that exam and the student will be unable to re-take that exam for a minimum of six months. The student will be required to pay for a STOTT PILATES Instructor Trainer to be present during the written exam. MERRITHEW will not be held responsible for any adverse effect this policy may have.

Students who choose to appeal their certification score may do so in writing to the Senior Program Director, Education within 30 days of their exam scores being issued. All appeals will be attended to within 60 days of receipt.