Development of a framework to Assess Organisational Psychology Postgraduate Students on Placement

A core component of postgraduate training in organisational psychology is professional placements, during which students develop and apply skills and knowledge into practice. The Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) is the governing body for psychology programs in higher education in Australia, establishing mandatory standards, including ensuring appropriate assessment of students' placement experiences. Presently, the five Australian universities offering postgraduate training in organisational psychology use different evaluation forms and processes for placements. In 2021, the Organisational Psychology Placement Alliance (OPPA) was established by representatives from four of these five universities. The aim of OPPA is to ensure professional best practice with standardised definitions, documents and processes. In 2023, OPPA prioritised the development of an Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) framework for the assessment and evaluation of postgraduate organisational psychology students on placement. While competencies describe the qualities of individual persons, EPAs outline the essential tasks of professional practice that can be delegated to a trainee once they demonstrate the necessary competence to perform the task independently and effectively (ten Cate et al., 2015). The concept of EPAs was developed to operationalise competency-based postgraduate medical education (ten Cate, 2005) but is now more widely applied within health professional education (e.g., Mulder et al., 2010). Following an extensive review of the existing competencies, as stipulated by APAC, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and the Psychology Board of Australia, OPPA identified 12 EPAs. The aim of this study is to refine and test this newly developed EPA framework. The methodology includes online focus groups with representation from placement supervisors, relevant academics, and recent graduates, followed by an online survey to be distributed to current placement assessors. Once developed, the EPA framework will inform a more rigorous and evidence-based placement evaluation method to ensure a high standard of postgraduate organisational psychology training and assessment.