New national psychology examination curriculum released today

29 Jan 2018

The Psychology Board of Australia (the Board) has released an advance copy of the new national psychology examination curriculum.

Releasing the curriculum today allows a six-month transition for exam candidates and their supervisors to become familiar with the new requirements before the new curriculum comes into effect on 1 August 2018.

Psychology Board of Australia Chair Professor Brin Grenyer said, ‘It is important that practitioners know and understand the requirements. By publishing the new curriculum documents six months before they come into effect, exam candidates and their supervisors, in particular, can start to prepare ahead of the first exam with questions on the new curriculum in August 2018.’

The new curriculum follows a two year review by the Board, which included a public consultation between
7 July and 1 September 2017.

‘The Board wanted to ensure that the curriculum aligned with the changes in the profession since 2012 and continued to meet international standards,’ Professor Grenyer said. ‘These changes include the new Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) standards and the new International declaration of core competencies in professional psychology (the declaration).’ Following the consultation, the Board has decided to:

• update the National psychology examination curriculum document to align with the new APAC standards and declaration
• align the guide A brief orientation to the National psychology examination with the proposed revised curriculum and with the declaration
• retire the Assessment domain additional resources document
• update the National psychology examination recommended reading list to align with the new curriculum
• complete a full plain English language edit of the Guidelines for the national psychology examination, and
• add a list of the additional resource documents into the section of the guidelines that mentions the curriculum.

More information about the new requirements and the reasons for the changes are available at the national psychology examination section (content of the exam) on the Board’s website.

The first national psychology exam that will be based on the new requirements will be the August sitting of the exam (3-24 August 2018).

For more information

• Visit the National Board's website
• Lodge an online enquiry form
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 8708 9001 (overseas callers)
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200