Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: External Practicum 1

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

BESC1323

Bundoora Campus

Research

150H Health Sciences

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013

BESC1340

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

150H Health Sciences

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2006,
Sem 1 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Sem 2 2013,
Sem 1 2014

BESC1340

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

173H School of Health and Biomed

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2019,
Sem 1 2020,
Sem 1 2021,
Sem 1 2022,
Sem 1 2023,
Sem 1 2024,
Sem 1 2025

Course Coordinator: Trish Melzer

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925

Course Coordinator Email: trish.melzer2@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 202.04.35


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Required Prior Study

You should have satisfactorily completed the following courses before you commence this course.

Alternatively, you may be able to demonstrate the required skills and knowledge before you start this course.

Contact your course coordinator if you think you may be eligible for recognition of prior learning. 


Course Description

External Psychology Practicum 1 is undertaken in Semester 1 of the second year of the Master of Psychology program. External Psychology Practicum 1 is designed to enable you to practise and apply evidence based clinical psychology skills and therapeutic techniques with clients in an external setting. You will work with and be supervised by clinical psychologists in a range of clinical settings. Placements are allocated in line with the accreditation guidelines of the Australian Psychological Accreditation Council Guidelines and Standards (2019) and Australian Psychological Society (APS) College of Clinical Psychologists. 

Work Integrated Learning 

Students need to be able to meet the inherent requirements of the program. At any time prior to or during your placement if there are concerns raised related to your fitness to practice, the WIL/clinical coordinator can request that you gain full medical clearance to continue your placement.  

Work Integrated Learning: In this course you will be required to undertake placement as part of your assessment and you will need to meet a number of WIL passport requirements in order to ensure that you are eligible for placement. Further details on each of these requirements are available in Part B of the Course Guide and on MyRMIT. These requirements include: 

  • National Police check 
  • Working with Children Check 
  • Evidence of required COVID 19 Vaccination(s) vaccination
  • Provisional registration with the Psychology Board or Australia 

There is no flexibility with these requirements. It is your responsibility to ensure that these requirements are completed. . Any student who has not provided this information will not be able to attend placement and will receive a NH fail grade for the placement course. 

In addition, some external agencies will have other vaccination requirements which must be confirmed prior to entering the placement.  


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for MC002 Master of Clinical Psychology

  • PLO 3: Design, analyse, synthesise and communicate information from a wide variety of psychological assessments and techniques appropriate to the developmental stage, cognitive level and cultural background of the client, and appropriate to the purpose of the assessment.
  • PLO 4: Demonstrate the ability to design, apply, and evaluate appropriate evidence-based empirically-validated interventions individualised to the client’s diagnosis, case formulation, and personal or organisational characteristics.
  • PLO 6: Demonstrate the ability to undertake effective communication across a range of individual and organisational contexts to engage clients and to convey, appraise and interpret information relevant to professional practice and the client population.


On successful completion of this course you should be able to: 

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of, and adherence to, the clinical and professional procedures of an external clinical agency/institution.
  2. Work collegiately and effectively within the multidisciplinary team of an external clinical agency/institution.
  3. Systematically evaluate all psychological interventions using an N=1 methodology.
  4. Perform to a professional standard across the range of clinical competencies in an external agency/institution, as specified in a Placement Agency performance contract.
  5. Reflect on your professional practice with a view to continuous quality improvement.

 


Overview of Learning Activities

Learning activities include on-placement supervision meetings to provide a solid theoretical and practice-driven basis to help achieve professional practice proficiency. The skill consolidation and development activities during external placement will support entry into professional psychological practice. During this course you will be required to undertake a period of 5-6 months in an external psychology setting, as arranged by the placement coordinator. You will be expected to read widely in areas related to clinical practice placement. 

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course. 


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course. 

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.


Overview of Assessment

All assessments in this course are HURDLES and all have been approved by the College Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Learning & Teaching).

The assessment associated with this course will comprise a performance assessment against the APAC criteria.  Your assessments will be undertaken over the time of the placementusing an industry wide External Placement Evaluation protocol. 

Assessment Tasks 

Assessment Task 1: Satisfactory completion of the mid placement review assessed at mid placement by the external and internal placement supervisors/coordinator, using the structured rating scale (CYPRS) specified in the External Placement Manual and available from the CANVAS site. 
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 

Assessment Task 2: Satisfactory completion of the end of  placement review assessed at end of placement by the external and internal placement supervisors/coordinator  using the structured rating scale (CYPRS) specified in the External Placement Manual and available from the CANVAS site. 
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Assessment Task 3: Submission of a signed supervision log 
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 4 & 5 

The overall grade for this course are Pass PX or Fail NN grades only. This course does not contribute to your GPA calculation.

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.