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There are significant public interest arguments for allowing area of practice endorsement to be used for the regulation of the psychology profession. In approving the nine areas or practice, Ministerial Council agreed with the Board that the public benefit of area of practice endorsements for the psychology profession outweigh the costs of additional regulation.
An endorsement function allows the Board to take an active role in promoting the psychological welfare of the community, through ensuring quality of services and the provision of adequate training and supervision for the psychology profession.
The public benefit in maximising the endorsement mechanism is demonstrated by the following:
Requiring an advanced qualification
Ministerial Council determined that there is public benefit in having access to psychologists who choose to undertake additional formal education in the nine approved areas of practice.
Area of practice endorsement is a regulatory mechanism under the National Law. It enables a notation to be included on the public register to allow the public, employers and others to identify practitioners who have completed an approved qualification and supervised experience in an approved area of practice. The advanced training is in addition to the minimum level of training required for general registration. This additional training may focus on delivery of specific treatments, using more complex techniques, or delivering services that require judgments and carry risk in specified advanced areas. Additional training is required for effective provision of these services.
The National Law covers both registration and accreditation functions. The advanced training must be accredited and then approved by the Board as a qualification for registration. For the psychology profession the Board has delegated the accreditation function to the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC).
Determining the required professional competencies
The Board can ensure that the public is protected by determining what professional competencies are required for an area of practice endorsement and how the competencies can be achieved.
The standard for endorsement competence is met by completing a Board approved education and training sequence after achieving general registration. In meeting the Area of practice endorsement registration standard, the Board is able to assure the public that a psychologist has done additional training and supervision in a specific area of practice and has met the competency standard.
Aligning areas of practice endorsement with community need
Consumers and public safety are at the centre of psychology regulation. Aligning areas of practice endorsement with community need and ensuring that each area of practice is fit for purpose as a regulatory tool is one way to protect the public.
Promoting consumer choice, and matching consumer need with help
An area of practice endorsement function provides the public with assurance that psychologists who have advanced qualifications are trained to a consistent and acceptable level of competency. Endorsements in areas of practice promote consumer choice and makes it simpler to match consumer need with the appropriate help. This is particularly important for clients who are seeking help in times of stress or crisis. For example, if a child who was an elite athlete and needed help with confidence during competitions, a sports and exercise psychologist could be selected (or referred to by another health professional) as they have completed advanced training in performance. For a consumer who was suspected to have early onset dementia and needed an assessment, a clinical neuropsychologist could be selected (or referred to) because of their advanced training in psychometric assessment.
Specialist registration and area of practice endorsement are both mechanisms under the National Law that identify practitioners who have undertaken additional qualifications. The Ministerial Council is responsible for approving specialties and protected specialist titles, and for approving areas of practice for endorsement and their relevant protected titles, for each health profession.
The difference between area of practice endorsement and specialist registration as regulatory tools is about the level of risk to the public. The main differences are:
In 2014 the Ministerial Council issued guidance to National Boards about the criteria for the approval of specialties for the purpose of specialist registration in a health profession. The Ministerial Council guidance makes it clear that approval for specialist registration is a 'regulatory instrument' within the meaning of the Council of Australian Governments Best Practice Regulation. It requires a robust regulatory assessment process be carried out before Ministerial Council decision with oversight by the Office of Best Practice Regulation. This assessment must prove that:
In considering this guidance, the Psychology Board of Australia determined that the ‘case for action’ had not been made for submitting the psychology profession and the public to the increased regulatory burden of specialist recognition under the National Law. Endorsement has provided a legal mechanism within the National Scheme to regulate psychologists with additional training in a proportionate way without unnecessarily restricting scope of practice.
There were five main reasons specialist title was not approved for psychology at the beginning of the national scheme:
For more information see the Board’s statement from February 2010:
Area of practice endorsement and an area of professional interest are different.
Area of practice endorsement is a regulatory mechanism under the National Law. It enables a notation to be included on the public register to identify practitioners to the public, employers and others when the practitioner has completed a Board-approved qualification and supervised experience in an approved area of practice.
The following criteria must be considered before applying for an endorsement to be approved by the Ministerial Council:
In addition, the qualification for endorsement must be accredited and then approved by the Board for registration. For the psychology profession the Board has delegated the accreditation function to the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC).
In comparison, a practitioner’s area of professional interest does not meet the threshold for requiring more regulatory oversight. An area of professional interest is not a regulatory mechanism under the National Law, but rather stems from personal work experiences and vocational choices. While the number of endorsements available are limited, the areas of professional interest have no bounds. Professional interest areas can be related to a work area (e.g. drug and alcohol use, trauma), type of therapy (e.g. narrative or psychodynamic therapy), working with specific populations (e.g. women, refugees, couples), age ranges (infants, older adults), client presentations (e.g. sleep disorders, eating disorders) or a job tasks (policy, supervision).
Practitioners upskill themselves in an area of professional interest through continuing professional development (CPD). There are typically no Board-approved or APAC-accredited qualifications available in an area of interest like there is for an area of practice endorsement. Practitioners regularly change their areas of professional interest over their careers, as they change jobs or develop new directions of professional growth.
The National Law protects the public through protecting the title of Psychologist. This means that only individuals who have completed a Board approved education and training sequence and are registered by the Board are eligible to call themselves a psychologist. When a member of the public receives services from a registered psychologist, they can be assured that the psychologist meets the threshold competency requirements to be able to practice safely in Australia. The competencies for general registration are set out in the Board’s General registration standard.
The National Board and Ahpra enforce compliance with the title protection requirements in the National Law in the public interest. It is an offence to use the title ‘psychologist’ unless you are a registered psychologist. Only those psychologists who hold an area of practice endorsement can use the titles associated with the relevant practice endorsement.
An individual’s scope of practice is determined by their formal qualifications through a Board approved program of study and the required supervised practice. Competence must be demonstrated upon initial application to meet a registration standard, such as the general registration standard. Competency must also be demonstrated throughout a practitioner’s career, and is achieved through supervision and reflective practice, continuing professional development (CPD), and work experience (including meeting the Recency of practice registration standard).
An individual’s scope of practice can narrow and change over time based on their vocational choices, and career paths. Therefore, it is important for each psychologist to review their CPD requirements annually and reflect on what services can be competently provided.
The Board does not place restrictions on an individual’s scope of practice. There are no restricted interventions that only a psychologist can provide. The National Law only restricts scope of practice in four defined areas where there has been an identified risk to public safety such as for certain dental acts, prescription of optical appliances, and spinal manipulation. This restriction means that only specified professions are permitted to practice the restricted interventions.
Even though there are no services that are restricted to being provided by psychologists, this does not mean that psychologists can provide any service they wish. Psychologists must ensure they only provide services where they can demonstrate their current competence.
Area of practice endorsement did not exist in Australia before 1 July 2010, when the national scheme began.
Prior to the national scheme - only Western Australia (WA) had any mechanism for formally recognising advanced qualifications and practice (specialist title registration). This system had been in place for about 30 years. No other Australian regulator operated a similar system. In other states and territories, the only pathways for recognition of qualifications were via professional organisations such Colleges of the Australian Psychological Society (APS), or through industrial relations mechanisms where specific titles were used for senior practitioners (such as clinical psychologist in the health department), or via approval to provide clinical psychology Medicare services (clinical psychology only).
At the start of the national scheme in July 2010, the Board instituted several transitioning provisions for area of practice endorsement. The purpose of the transition provisions was to allow psychologists who had previously obtained recognition of their postgraduate qualifications and training (or equivalent), or were actively seeking such recognition, at the time the national scheme commenced in 2010 to become endorsed. This included the following provisions:
The transition period ended on 30 June 2013. Given that there was no area of practice endorsement registration category prior to the national scheme, and the transition period was over three years, these transition provisions were considered generous.
Since the end of the transition period, an area of practice endorsement in any of the nine areas of endorsement are only available to a person who applies to the Board and meets the qualifications and supervised practice standard of the Board outlined in the Area of practice endorsements registration standard.
Area of practice endorsement did not exist in Australia until the beginning of the national scheme in 2010. Once the Ministerial Council approved area of practice endorsement for psychology, the Board needed to determine whether each individual psychologist would have to apply for endorsement and be assessed against the Area of practice endorsements registration standard, or if there could be transition arrangements.
To provide clients with essential access to treatment, and provide a fair and equitable transition for psychologists, the Board determined that there would be a three-year transition period. The Board adopted the policy that psychologists with WA specialist title, APS College membership and Medicare recognition as a clinical psychologist did not have to apply for endorsement but could transition to the relevant endorsement. Since the criteria in 2010 for WA specialist title, APS College membership and Medicare recognition as a clinical psychologist had many parallels with the Endorsement Standard, this was seen to be of low-risk to public safety. This meant that:
To be eligible for endorsement in one of the approved areas of practice, a registered psychologist must either:
The psychologist must then complete a registrar program (or comparable supervised practice), which involves work in that area of practice under the supervision of a Board-approved supervisor who holds endorsement in the same area of practice (or similar overseas status).
See the Guidelines on area of practice endorsements for details on the types of qualifications and corresponding registrar program requirements.
The application forms for area of practice endorsement are available on the Forms page.
If you meet the qualification requirements and have completed a Board-approved registrar program use form AECR-76 to apply for endorsement.
If you meet the qualification requirements but have not yet completed a registrar program, apply to commence a registrar program using form AEAP-76.
If you completed an accredited Australian Doctoral degree under transition provisions use form AEAT-76 to apply for endorsement. See the information about transition provisions on the Pathways to endorsement page. Complete the AEAE-76 form if you:
Professional titles associated with the nine approved areas of practice (e.g. Health Psychologist) are protected under the National Law. To use any of these protected titles, you must complete a Board-approved qualification relevant to the area of practice and a period of supervised practice in a Board-approved registrar program.
Becoming a member of the APS and joining one of nine APS colleges is optional. You may be able to complete a supervised practice program that meets the requirements for both area of practice endorsement and APS College Fellow concurrently. However, the Board and the APS are separate organisations and completion of the requirements for one will not automatically meet the requirements for the other.
The Board’s requirements for endorsement are explained in the Area of practice endorsements registration standard and the Guidelines on area of practice endorsements.
Information about APS college membership is available on the APS website.
To be endorsed in more than one area of practice you must have completed a Board-approved qualification and a period of approved supervised practice for each area of practice (or were granted endorsement under transition provisions at the start of the National Scheme).
If you are already endorsed and you have completed studies for another endorsement, you can complete 75% of the supervised practice hours required in the registrar program for your new endorsement.
If you are not yet endorsed but you are simultaneously seeking two endorsements (e.g. completing an approved higher degree qualification associated with two areas of practice), you can complete 75% of the supervised practice hours required for each endorsement. See the Guidelines on area of practice endorsements for more information.
To maintain endorsement in multiple areas of practice, you must meet annual continuing professional development (CPD) requirements in each area of practice. See the CPD guidelines for details.
To maintain your endorsement you must maintain general registration and meet the requirements for CPD in the Guidelines for continuing professional development.
If your general registration lapses, is cancelled or suspended, or is changed to non-practising registration for a period of time, your endorsement also lapses. When you reapply for general registration, you will be eligible to apply to reinstate any endorsement you previously held.