Advancing Psychology in Australian Higher Education
HoDSPA is the Heads of Departments and Schools of Psychology Association, and represents leaders in psychology governance, teaching and learning, and management of research across our member institutions.
Agreed HoDSPA priorities
- Future of Psychology Training and Workforce: Addressing contemporary issues in the discipline and practice of psychology.
- HoDSPA Psychology Reference Portal – completion of Phase 1 HoDSPA Psychology Reference Portal and laying foundations for Phase 2, a Common Applications System.
- Supporting Heads of Schools in accreditation activities: Identifying and acting on opportunities for benchmarking and providing benchmarking data and evidence.
- Heads of Schools Mentoring Program: Supporting Heads of Schools in their everyday practice.
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Supporting Indigenous Student Pathways from Undergraduate to Postgraduate: Increasing the number of Indigenous Psychologists and Academics in Australia.
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Flexibility in Training using Recognised Prior Learning: Meeting current needs in the psychology workforce by recognising prior training and addressing funding and equity issues in training and accreditation models.
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HoDSPA Website and LinkedIn account– creating and maintaining a strong, visible online and social media presence.
Members from over forty public and private Universities and Institutes across Australia.
HoDSPA Members (HEPs) train and educate psychologists and psychology graduates at undergraduate and post graduate levels across Australia.
HoDSPA members work on policy and advocacy in areas such as:
- Regular submissions to APHRA such as updating the APS code of ethics, competencies for general registration of Psychologists.
- Submissions to the Minister of Health advocating for the discipline of psychology. For example, HoDSPA submission to successfully change the CSP contribution for Psychology to recognise the undergraduate clinical pathway; we are now working on changing the allocation to be more equitable over Psychology programs across Australia.
- Submission to the Australian University Accord
- Submission to the Productivity Commission
- Development of a new, redesigned national referencing system for Professional Programs and national a National Admissions System
- New Indigenous student pathways into the profession of psychology
- Recent discussions with the APS to revolutionise psychology education to put more psychologists out in the community more quickly than is currently the case
- Submission to the Kruk review; regulatory settings relating to health practitioner registration and qualification recognition for overseas health professionals and international health students
