October 2015
Aon, our approved insurance partner are offering FREE combined malpractice insurance cover which includes Professional indemnity, Public and Product liability to APS Member and Subscriber Postgraduate students and Registrars who meet eligibility criteria. The comprehensive master policy can be applied for through Aon from October 1st, 2015 and will provide you with comprehensive cover for 12 months.
Applying for the insurance is also easy, simply complete your details on Aon’s 5 minute online application form and a member of their Health team will come back to you.
Plus, as an added benefit, should you take out the free cover and then transition to the APS-approved PI insurance package once you’ve completed your studies, Aon will welcome you with a 14 months cover for the price of 12 offer.
To find out more and to see if you are eligible for the free insurance cover, read here
3 March 2014
From 1 July this year, the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) will require provisional psychologists undertaking the 4+2 or 5+1 internship training pathway to pass a national psychology examination to gain general registration as a psychologist. Provisional psychologists undertaking training through accredited postgraduate professional psychology studies are exempt from sitting the exam until 1 July 2016.
While the APS supports the introduction of the national psychology examination, it is advocating for permanent exemptions from sitting the national exam for graduates of accredited postgraduate programs, and for those who commenced their 4+2/5+1 internships before the introduction of the exam was announced. The APS has also identified and raised matters of concern with the PsyBA associated with the content, format and location of the exam, as well as the lack of an appeals process.
APS members can read more about the exam and APS advocacy in this InPsych article: http://www.psychology.org.au/Content.aspx?ID=5675
24 February 2014
Congratulations to the 39 APS Prize recipients for 2013, an honour bestowed on the student at each Australian higher education institution who gains first place at the end of an accredited fourth-year program. See the full list of 2013 APS Prize recipients here: https://www.psychology.org.au/Content.aspx?ID=5686#s7
Each APS Prize recipient receives a certificate, one year's free APS membership, and an invitation to present a poster on his or her thesis at the 2014 APS Annual Conference with Conference registration provided.
The APS Prize will be awarded again in 2014. For more information, go to: http://www.psychology.org.au/about/awards/aps_prize/
20 February 2014
Congratulations to the two recipients of the APS Award for Excellent PhD Thesis in Psychology in 2013: William Harrison (University of Queensland), and Caroline Moul (University of New South Wales).
The Award recognises outstanding research in psychology, with the recipients' PhD research judged to be excellent in relation to scientific creativity, quality, originality, recognition and impact. Read more about each recipient's thesis here: https://www.psychology.org.au/Content.aspx?ID=5686#s6
Each Award recipient receives a plaque, a $1,000 grant, one year's free APS membership, and an invitation to present his or her paper at the 2014 APS Annual Conference with Conference registration, flights and accommodation provided.
The APS Award for Excellent PhD Thesis in Psychology will be awarded again in 2014. For more information, go to: http://www.psychology.org.au/about/awards/thesis/
Posted 13 December 2012
The APS is aware of a provisional registration renewal problem that has affected a number of Victorian professional psychology third year Doctorate students who are likely to be representative of a wider group of postgraduate psychology students (both Doctorate students and Masters students who have been undertaking their studies for more than two years). This matter has been brought to the attention of the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) but at this stage an alternative, more satisfactory solution has not been offered. The APS wants to ensure that affected students are aware of the steps the PsyBA has stipulated they must take to maintain their provisional registration and be able to continue their training without interruption.
The students affected are those that were previously registered as provisional psychologists with State/Territory Registration Boards and where this was subsequently transferred to the national registration scheme under the Psychology Board of Australia. Those students who have renewed their registration on two occasions since it was transferred to the national scheme are now required to reapply for registration at the end of their current registration period in order to maintain their provisional registration. Many students are not aware of this requirement to reapply for registration, and the APS is aware of a number of cases where students have not been alerted to this requirement by the PsyBA or the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Authority (AHPRA). In the case of the Victorian students, their provisional registration will expire on 31 December 2012 and they have not been informed of the requirement to reapply for registration. Failure to reapply will result in the postgraduate student no longer being provisionally registered, with major implications for the students' continuing training.
Postgraduate psychology students who have already renewed their registration twice with the PsyBA/AHPRA should therefore check the expiry date of their current provisional registration and ensure they reapply for registration before their current registration expires. A new form has recently been developed by the PsyBA and must be used by students in this situation. The form (Application for provisional registration after three years of provisional registration for psychologists- ARPT-76) can be downloaded from this link: http://www.psychologyboard.gov.au/Registration/Provisional/Higher-Degree/Forms.aspx Individual students' registration expiry dates can be checked by searching the National Register from this link: http://www.ahpra.gov.au/Registration/Registers-of-Practitioners.aspx
The PsyBA has advised that students who have queries in relation to this matter should contact the Professional Officer for Psychology at the relevant Regional Board of the PsyBA by phoning 1300 419 495.
The APS has strongly recommended to the PsyBA that students affected by this renewal issue should be able to renew their registration rather than being required to go through the onerous task of reapplying for their provisional registration (and resupplying supporting documentation), and believes this should be able to be accommodated as part of transition arrangements to the national registration scheme. The APS has also objected to the high provisional registration fees for postgraduate students and believes this is not justified given that university and placement supervisors take full responsibility for monitoring standards during students' training. The APS believes the current processes are disenfranchising students and represent a significant disincentive to completing postgraduate studies.
The APS will continue to try to have these processes altered, but in the meantime postgraduate students need to ensure that they maintain their provisional registration by following the prescribed steps so that their training is not interrupted.
29 November 2012
Students who have this year completed a Graduate Diploma in Professional Psychology (GDPP) as part of the 5+1 route to general registration have been waiting to find out how they can get their sixth year internship program organised for next year given that the guidelines for the 5+1 internship are yet to be released by the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA). The APS has been advocating strongly for this situation to be rectified as soon as possible. In its latest Communiqué, the PsyBA announced transitional arrangements for 5+1 internships, where graduates of a GDPP who have attained provisional registration can commence the one year internship using the existing 4+2 Guidelines. The PsyBA's guidelines for the 5+1 internship are currently under development and will be released for public consultation in 2013.
7 November 2012
The Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) has announced a new online application process for students exiting 4th year who are going on to further training in psychology and require provisional registration status in order to do this. Students and graduates are eligible to use the service if they intend to continue training to become a psychologist and require provisional registration to undertake the fifth and sixth years of psychology training through one of the three approved pathways (4+2, 5+1 or higher degree) leading to General registration as a psychologist. After applying online, applicants need to mail their supporting documentation to AHPRA. To become a registered provisional psychologist, eligible students must also meet the PsyBA's registration requirements relating to criminal history, English language skills and professional indemnity insurance.
18 October 2012
The finalised proposed APS model of education and training was presented to the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) in a submission to the pre-consultation phase of the Review of Accreditation Standards for the Psychology Profession in Australia 2012. Following the pre-consultation phase of the review, APAC has now entered a consultation phase on the proposed new Standards, which were released in a consultation paper in late September 2012. It is very pleasing to observe that many of the structural elements of the APS model are contained in APAC's revised Draft Accreditation Standards.
