The Board undertakes wide-ranging consultation on proposals that affect the profession.
Consultation is an important part of the Board’s engagement with members of the psychology profession, members of the public and other stakeholders. The feedback provided via consultation is greatly valued, and informs the Board’s development of important documents.
Where there are consultations open for input, they will be shown below.
Where there are consultations which have closed, they will be shown under Past Consultations, along with the submissions that were received. The Board publishes submissions received on the website to encourage discussion and inform the community and stakeholders, unless requested otherwise. There may be circumstances under which submissions may not be published. Please refer to the consultation paper for details of how submissions will be treated.
The Board is consulting on a revised area of practice endorsement (AoPE) registration standard. The consultation paper enclosing a copy of the draft standard is available at the link below.
This consultation follows an initial consultation on an earlier draft of the AoPE standard in 2016. This review was placed on hold until new Accreditation Standards for Psychology Programs were finalised. The improvements proposed in 2016 remain part of the current proposal, including additional flexibility in registrar program requirements, formal recognition of bridging programs, and clarifying the ability to seek reinstatement of endorsement after it has lapsed.
The draft AoPE standard has been further revised to allow a pathway to endorsement after completing a stand-alone area of practice program, introduced under the new accreditation standards effective 1 January 2019. Stand-alone programs are equivalent to an accredited sixth year of study and higher education providers can offer entry to psychologists who do not hold a postgraduate qualification or endorsement in another area of practice, for example, those who obtained registration through a 4+2 or 5+1 internship. Other proposed changes to the standard include adopting the same structure used in the Board’s other registration standards and simplifying the content by removing detailed explanations of requirements sufficiently explained in the AoPE guidelines.
The consultation paper summarises the changes proposed in 2016 and explains the differences between the 2016 and the current proposal. Submissions on the draft registration standard are due by close of business Friday 7 December 2018. Please provide in Word format to psychconsultation@ahpra.gov.au.
In 2016 the Board also consulted on proposed new AoPE guidelines. Since then the proposed guidelines have been revised to ensure they align with the updated draft standard and, in response to consultation feedback, to make the requirements clearer. The proposed guidelines have been published with the consultation paper (link below) to provide context to the changes to the AoPE registration standard, in particular because the proposal involves removing content from the standard that is in the guidelines. The Board is not consulting on the AoPE guidelines again, except where content relates to the proposed changes to the standard.
The focus of the Board’s education and training reform agenda over the past few years has been the retirement of the 4+2 pathway to registration. The next priority is a broad and comprehensive review of the nine areas of practice, including an examination of the public interest arising from additional regulation. The Board has determined that the areas of practice and competencies should not be changed until a detailed review is undertaken. Stakeholder feedback received during and since the 2016 consultation will influence the planning of this review.