PSYCH 730 : Professional Psychology Practice In New Zealand

Science

2020 Semester One (1203) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Aims to equip students with knowledge and skills required for registration as a psychologist with the New Zealand Psychologists Board. Topics include the structure and functions of the Psychologists Board/Health and Disability Commissioner, cultural competency (obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and cultural safe practice), professional ethics (Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand) and related legislation. For students enrolled in the PGDipAppPsych.

Course Overview

This course aims to equip students with the knowledge, awareness and skills required for registration as a psychologist with the New Zealand Psychologists Board. Topics included are those which provide the foundation for safe and ethical practice.  
 
The course includes a description of the functions of the Psychologists Board and related professional bodies, close consideration of the Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa/New Zealand and related legislation, and the practice of ethical decision making. In addition, consideration will be given to issues concerned with professional behaviour and maintenance of boundaries with colleagues and clients. Issues of well-being and self-care will be presented as an essential part of professional practice. This includes the practice of supervision. 
 
Cultural competence in professional practice includes consideration of psychologists’ obligations for practice that arises from the Treaty of Waitangi, and skills for safe practice when working with Māori. Awareness of your own culture and values and how these may influence psychological practice will be developed. Sensitivity in working with members of other cultures from one’s own will be explored. 
 
Completion of a staff-approved Treaty Workshop is expected for completion of this course.   

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2: Critical Thinking
Capability 3: Solution Seeking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Describe the relevance and roles of professional bodies to psychological practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Capability 1)
  2. Apply the principles of Psychologists’ code of ethics and relevant law to psychological practice. (Capability 1)
  3. Demonstrate awareness of how one’s own culture/values may influence psychological practice with clients and develop strategies to mitigate this (Capability 2)
  4. Understand and describe the implications of the Treaty of Waitangi for psychological practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand. (Capability 1)
  5. Demonstrate an introductory level of competency in Mātauranga Māori knowledge including a basic understanding of the dynamics of whanaungatanga that include mana, tapu and noa, tika, pono, manaakitanga and aroha. (Capability 4)
  6. Demonstrate a basic level of competency in the practice of pepeha, karakia and waiata. (Capability 4)
  7. Develop and demonstrate a good effective and realistic personalised plan for stress management and professional well-being. (Capability 3)
  8. Describe appropriate standards of and rationale for maintaining appropriate professional boundaries in relationships with clients and colleagues (Capability 2)
  9. Develop a supervision agreement and participate appropriately in professional supervision in terms of observing basic ethical guidelines and utilising the experiential learning model (Capability 4)
  10. Understand the role of the psychologist within a multidisciplinary team in terms of effective communication and set personal goals with respect to developing leadership competence. (Capability 4)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignments 25% Individual Coursework
Assignments 25% Individual Coursework
Assignments 20% Individual Coursework
Final Exam 30% Individual Coursework
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Assignments
Assignments
Assignments
Final Exam

Learning Resources

Please see the updated reference and resources list 
 



Special Requirements

 Students must complete all assignments (3) and final exam. 90% attendance at seminars required.

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard [15] point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect [24] hours of lectures, a [0] hour tutorial, [63] hours of reading and thinking about the content and [63] hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Digital Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Copyright

The content and delivery of content in this course are protected by copyright. Material belonging to others may have been used in this course and copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under license.

You may copy the course content for the purposes of private study or research, but you may not upload onto any third party site, make a further copy or sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of the course content to another person.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Feedback

During the course Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the staff responsible for the course and staff-student consultative committees.

At the end of the course students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback.

Your feedback helps to improve the course and its delivery for all students.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 19/12/2019 09:12 p.m.