Endorsement FAQ

To be eligible for endorsement in one of the approved areas of practice, a registered psychologist must either:

• complete a postgraduate qualification that is accredited and approved by the Board for endorsement in that area of practice, or
• complete a postgraduate qualification assessed by the Board as substantially equivalent or based on similar competencies to an approved qualification

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:

•  Completed a postgraduate qualification in Australia that you believe is substantially equivalent or based on similar competencies to an approved postgraduate qualification accredited as a sixth year of study or higher in an approved area of practice, and you are able to demonstrate that you have completed a period of supervised practice that is comparable to a Board approved registrar program.
• Completed equivalent training overseas. See the Overseas applicants page and the information for overseas-trained applicants for endorsement on the Pathways to endorsement page. Also refer to the Guidelines on area of practice endorsement.
• Completed an approved qualification and have completed a period of supervised practice that is comparable to a Board-approved registrar program.

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:

1. Specialisation is considered to pose a higher level of risk to the public than endorsement. Only three health professions have specialist registration in Australia – medicine (e.g. anaesthesia, surgery), dentistry (e.g. orthodontics, oral surgery), and podiatry (e.g. podiatric surgery).
   
   
2. An endorsement is a notation on general registration and published on the National Register while specialist registration is a separate register and requires a higher level of regulatory oversight. 
   
   
3. Area of practice endorsement allows for more flexibility than specialisation. Area of practice endorsement builds on general registration and psychologists can hold more than one endorsement, allowing for flexibility in work. Health practitioners who are on the specialist register typically work in a specific and defined higher-risk specialist area, and only work in that specialist area. For example, a medical practitioner on the specialist register might work as an anaesthetist or a neuro-surgeon, but not usually as both. Psychologists on the other hand, tend to work in different roles and contexts over a career, can hold more than one endorsement, and psychologists with different endorsements might work in the same work context (e.g. both a clinical psychologist and an education and developmental psychologist might conduct child assessments).

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 Impact Analysis. This assessment must prove that:

• that current risks in the profession are not being managed by the current arrangements, and
• that specialist registration is the appropriate remedy (rather than some other mechanism or process) to control those risks.

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.  

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:

• the qualification and supervised practice for endorsement must be at an advanced level, and in addition to the minimum level of training needed for general registration
• the competencies for endorsement must be in a specific area that is in the public interest
• there must be a regulatory case for the endorsement, including a clear regulatory problem that an endorsement would solve
• the area of practice must warrant more regulation – the requirement for an additional qualification and supervised practice must outweigh the cost of more regulation and resulting regulatory burden, and
• the qualification in the area of practice should be available for practitioners to undertake and feasible for higher education providers to offer.

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.

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.

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.