Revised CPD standard for psychologists published today

30 Oct 2015

The Psychology Board of Australia today published the revised continuing professional development (CPD) standard, which will come into effect on 1 December 2015.

The revised CPD standard will replace the current standard and will apply to all 26,843 registered general psychologists in Australia. Practitioners will need to meet the obligations of the revised standard in the next registration renewal period from 1 December 2015 to 30 November 2016. 

Revised registration standard

Revised guidelines and FAQ

The revised standard was approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council on 27 August 2015 and was part of a scheduled review of standards. A public consultation was held as part of the review. National Boards today published consultation reports providing a summary of the consultation processes, rationale for any changes and proposed way forward, including areas where further work is planned. The submissions to the public consultation are published on the past consultations page.

The revised CPD standard will introduce fairer provisions for pro-rata CPD requirements and CPD exemptions. It will also introduce a new requirement to maintain the CPD portfolio for five years in case of audit. The revised standard also clarifies the current requirements and improves the wording and structure of the document to make it easier to understand.

There are no major changes to the CPD requirements and most psychologists will find that the changes do not have significant effect on how they plan, complete and record their CPD.

In February 2016, the Board will be publishing a revised recency of practice registration standard. The revised standard will take effect on 1 December 2016 to allow psychologists time to become familiar with the requirements.

Additional resources

The following additional resources about the revised standard are available on the AHPRA website.

• letter of approval
• consultation report
• common FAQs