Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy for this unit allows the assessment of the student against the minimum standards for psychological practice and competence in psychological skills as determined by the Psychology Board of Australia and the Australian Psychological Accreditation Council and the expected trajectory of attainment of clinical competencies. Supervisors will evaluate competence levels of trainees at the interim- and end-placement reviews using a structured assessment tool relevant to the stage of training and program of study (for example, the Clinical Psychology Practicum Competencies Rating Scale).

The practicum logbook (Assessment 1, Hurdle) is designed to assess students’ ability to develop the skills to maintain appropriate record-keeping practices consistent with ethical and professional standards. Logbooks must be submitted within two weeks prior to the end of Term. If required, students will be given feedback to ensure that the logbooks meet expectations. Required changes must be submitted within two weeks of the feedback being received in order to meet the requirements of this hurdle. Students will be given two opportunities to resubmit this task in response to feedback provided by the placement coordinator.

The case presentation (Assessment 2, Pass/Fail) is designed to develop the students’ ability to present their clinical thinking in a concise professional manner to their peers, similar to a clinical case review meeting in the field. The case conference report (Assessment 3, Pass/Fail) is designed to assess students’ ability to critically evaluate and integrate information gathered during assessment procedures to develop a case formulation and treatment plan consistent with the empirical research literature. This written report requires students to critically reflect on their case presentation and incorporate relevant feedback from their peers. Students will be given one opportunity to resubmit this task in response to feedback provided by their case conference facilitator.

The Practicum Review (Assessment 4, Hurdle) is designed to assess students’ practical performance in a real-life work setting and is intended to ensure that students are able to progress towards participating in the PSYC669 Final Practicum Review. This review of performance is intended to identify student strengths and areas for growth as registered psychologists seeking area of endorsed practice in clinical psychology. If through this process concerns are raised regarding the student’s progress towards competence relative to their stage of training, a remediation plan will be developed to address these areas of concern in regard to clinical competence. This remediation plan will include the scheduling of an additional review meeting to assess progress towards improving performance in the areas of concern identified. Students will need to demonstrate a higher level of competence at the PSYC669 Final Practicum Review due to increased expectations of their developing skills and independence across the three practicum placement units. Students will not be offered the opportunity to repeat the Practicum review. Failure of a Practicum Review will result in a failure of the unit overall. Unless negotiated in the Placement Contract established at the commencement of the placement, the Final Practicum Review in PSYC669 should be completed two weeks prior to the end of Term 4 (i.e., the end of PSYC669 Practicum C). Any variation is this timeline or remediation process would need to be approved by the Psychology Clinical Governance Committee, whose deliberations would include careful consideration of the resource implications of any extensions.

In order to pass this unit, students must demonstrate the achievement of all learning outcomes. Students must complete all applicable hurdle tasks successfully and achieve a pass grade in all Pass/Fail tasks to pass this unit. A failure in any of these assessment tasks is likely to translate to an unacceptable level of risk to clients with whom the student will come into contact in their future practice as a psychologist. Learning outcomes will be assessed at multiple time points in order to ensure that student progression in development of confidence, competence and readiness to practice clinical work independently is adequately assessed.