This course is designed to introduce students to the regulatory, organisational, ethical and legal frameworks that apply to psychologists and how these are applied across a range of population groups, professional roles and practice settings.
The course will address ethical codes, guidelines, resources and reasoning; relevant legislation; practice management and professional administration; supervision, consultation and career management. You will gain knowledge about modifying assessment and intervention approaches to ensure that they are appropriate for particular population groups, with an emphasis on cultural sensitivity and competence.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Demonstrate the ability to research and resolve professional ethical issues including consent and confidentiality, professional competence, clinical boundaries, conflicts of interest, and record keeping, through reference to the APS Code of Ethics and Ethical Guidelines and the Psychology Board of Australia Guidelines for Practice.
- Demonstrate the ability to identify and research relevant legislation relating to work as a Registered Psychologist and to identify and describe issues around providing evidence in court, responding to subpoenas and the difference between treatment and independent forensic reports.
- Demonstrate the ability to identify and resolve issues around child sexualised behaviours and abuse, professional responsibilities with respect to mandatory reporting, and to identify vulnerable groups in society and demonstrate an awareness of their unique clinical needs.
Work Integrated Learning
Other
This is a coursework component of the Master of Professional Psychology degree. No work-integrated learning option is available.
Other Information
This course is assessed on a Course Requirement Satisfied (CRS) or Fail basis. Students must satisfactorily complete all assessment tasks in order to pass the course.
Indicative Assessment
- Legislation and Ethical Codes quiz (Hurdle) (25) [LO 1,2]
- Mandatory Reporting and Sexualised Behaviours quiz (Hurdle) (25) [LO 1,3]
- Provide a written response to Ethical Dilemmas (Hurdle) (50) [LO 1,2,3]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:
- Face-to face component which consists of 14 hours of face-to-face activities including lectures and/or workshops spread across the first three weeks of semester 1.
- Approximately 116 hours of self-directed study which will include preparation for workshops and completion of assessment tasks.
Please note that this course, as part of the Master of Professional Psychology program, is delivered in an intensive format through four 3.5-hour workshops, in the first three weeks of the semester. This course will be structured as two half-day workshops and one full-day workshop (two workshops) delivered over the first three teaching Mondays of the teaching semester.
Students should ensure they are familiar with timetabling for each semester to plan accordingly.
Inherent Requirements
In this course, students must participate in class discussions involving ethical issues and child abuse issues, including analysis of case studies, discussion of relevant research and participation in group work. These activities support the development and assessment of core professional competencies. Developing these competencies requires students to be able to:
- Communicate effectively in English, including understanding and conveying nuance and adapting their communication style to suit the preferences and needs of others.
- Use cues other than the literal meaning of spoken words to interpret the thoughts, emotions and motivations of others.
- Reflect on how their verbal and non-verbal communication is interpreted by others and use these insights to develop positive professional relationships.
- Monitor, reflect on and take responsibility for their own mental wellbeing, assumptions, beliefs and reactions to ensure they have the capacity to provide effective psychology services to clients.
- Work professionally with staff and fellow students and learn effectively from supervisor feedback.
In addition, students must:
- Hold provisional registration with the Psychology Board of Australia, including meeting standards for criminal history and English language skills.
Students who cannot meet these requirements will not be able to pass the course and will therefore be unable to complete their degree.
Requisite and Incompatibility
You will need to contact the School of Medicine and Psychology to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Prescribed Texts
There is no prescribed textbook for this course. All course materials, pre-course readings, and recommended resources will be made available on the Learning Management System in the course resource folder
Assumed Knowledge
Knowledge about ethics and regulation from courses in the first year of this program or its equivalentFees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 1
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $4680 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $7080 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2879 | 17 Feb 2025 | 24 Feb 2025 | 31 Mar 2025 | 23 May 2025 | In Person | View |