Last Updated on 08/08/2024
Placements are planned so that trainees have the best opportunity to achieve the learning objectives that relate to acquisition of clinical competence, which meet the HCPC’s Standards of Proficiency for Practitioner Psychologists and the standards set out in the BPS Accreditation through Partnership Handbook; Guidance for Clinical Psychology Programme.
Placement Contract
For each practice placement, the document that articulates this plan to link opportunities on placement to the learning objectives and acquisition of competencies is the Placement Contract. It is submitted to the programme via email to the trainee’s clinical tutor and Programme Coordinator (Placements) at the start of the placement (2 weeks for full time trainees, 3 weeks for part time trainees)
The designated clinical tutors are available to provide guidance to supervisors in the use of the contract in setting out and monitoring learning objectives that demonstrate acquisition of clinical competence for each trainee. Supervisors and/or trainees are encouraged to contact the clinical tutor with any questions or queries regarding the contract.
It is the trainee’s responsibility to make their subsequent supervisor aware of their training needs arising from their training thus far. Trainees are asked to share the SAT form from their previous placement with their next placement supervisor. The clinical tutor reviews the placement contract to ensure for example, that trainee needs from previous placements, are incorporated into the contract. General ‘gaps’ in experience (e.g. opportunities to teach, or use psychometric tests, or conduct group work, or work within another therapeutic orientation) are identified for each trainee at the end of each placement to take into the contract planning process of their subsequent placement.
Psychological Contract
In addition to a Placement Contract, which sets out explanations about clinical work and the practicalities of supervision, trainees and supervisors should consider drawing up a psychological contract. Deriving from the field of Organisational Psychology, the term psychological contract usually refers to an implicit contract, or unwritten set of expectations, between an individual and his/her organisation, which determines what each party expects to give and receive from each other. Even when it remains unwritten, the psychological contract is a powerful determiner of behaviour in organisations; breaches of this contract in the work setting can have deleterious effects, such as lowering of trust and job satisfaction. Making this contract explicit through agreeing it should make it easier to address and manage difficulties should they arise.
The psychological contract is equally applicable to the training situation (although not submitted to the programme). When applied to supervision, the key questions related to the psychological contract are:
- How are supervisor and trainee going to relate to each other?
- What expectations do each have of the other?
- What is the role of each?
Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG)
The placement audit and log book (PALOG) is completed during and at the end of each practice placement, by the trainee assessing their experience of the quality of that practice placement and capturing a log of placement activity (this information has previously been captured in two separate documents – the Placement Audit Form (PAF) and Log Book which have been combined together). The form includes the following:
- Amount of formal direct supervision received (90 minutes per week for full time trainees on their first practice placement and 60 minutes on subsequent placements and for part time trainees at least 60 minutes per week on their first placement with 40 minutes for each subsequent placement)
- Levels of support, safety, challenge and resources available within the specific supervisory relationship(s)
- Review of facilities on placement
- Entries regarding clinical placement activities
- Review of service provision (including consideration of accessibility and issues of diversity)
These forms are reviewed by the clinical tutors in the placement team and are collated across each cohort. This is so that the quality of placements can be monitored across the areas reported on in the PALOG.
Placement Assessment
Practice placement supervisors assess whether a trainee has satisfactorily met the level of competence expected for their stage of training across the required domains of both specific and transferable competence. The assessment is based on the work undertaken on the placement with evidence being entered into the Supervisor Assessment of Trainee (SAT) form. This includes supervisors seeking direct feedback from people seen by the trainees to contribute to the supervisors overall assessment of the trainee via the SAT form (information about this process can be found in the document links below)
Supervisors Assessment of Trainee (SAT)
The SAT form is a report of a trainee’s performance on placement in the development of skills and competencies across all domains of clinical psychology practice.
Supervisors can only assess performance on the available opportunities and activities on the specific placement, which have been framed from the start by the placement contract and recorded in the Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG). The SAT asks supervisors to judge whether, through their supervised practice on the placement, the trainee has demonstrated enough progress across the range of competencies to merit passing the placement (a rating of “satisfactory”), whether they should pass with some recommendation to attend to specific areas requiring development (areas for development/ areas of concern), or whether they should fail the competency or the placement (“unsatisfactory”). These ratings are accompanied by qualitative feedback on the nature of their progress. These ratings are given for each of the competencies, as well as an overall rating for performance on the whole placement. During early placements in the programme, it is anticipated that some of the above broad areas will be rated as “areas for development” as a trainee will only acquire a full set of competencies over the whole three years of the programme. However, this also means that a final placement SAT form should have ratings of satisfactory across the whole range of areas. This sensitivity to the developmental nature of training is communicated to all trainees and supervisors.
The current SAT form has been agreed by all three DClinPsy courses in the North West region.
Document submission and Exam Board processes
In terms of document submission, the programme must receive completed copies of the SAT and Placement Audit and Log book (PALOG) in electronic form, emailed from the supervisor’s work email address, by the final day of the placement period. If these documents are not received in compliance with this process (which acts in lieu of a system of supervisors ‘signing’ a form), the Exam Board will not be able to formally award a pass to the trainee for that placement.
The SAT form constitutes a formal recommendation to that Exam Board regarding the pass or failure of the placement. Outcome of placement assessments are confirmed with the trainees after the annual Exam Board. The exception is the progression exam board held in September following the competition of the programme by full time trainees. Where trainees are on a part time or altered schedule their final placement outcomes will be considered through Exam Board Chair’s action following completion of that placement.
Recommendation of Fail for the placement
Where a fail grade is recommended by a supervisor for a placement, an extraordinary exam board is convened. Relevant documentation is sent to an External Examiner prior to the Exam Board. The External Examiner is external to the programme and local services. Their role is to give an opinion on the documentation and evidence presented from the position of being a trainer in Clinical Psychology. In some cases the External Examiner may also wish to see other materials (e.g. reports or letters written on placement). At an Exam Board where placement failure has been recommended by the supervisors, at least one external examiner will be in attendance and it is expected to be the one who has previously scrutinised the documentation.
The decision of outcome i.e. for the placement to pass or fail is made by the Exam Board following scrutiny of the documentation and presentation of evidence to the board.
If the Exam Board endorses a fail grade for the practice placement, the practice placement will need to be repeated. The repeated placement will not take the place of another placement. It is possible that the trainee might need to complete the placement or a subsequent placement ‘out of contract’ at their own expense. Trainees must pass all scheduled placements in order to qualify from the programme. If the practice placement is failed at the second attempt, the trainee will not be allowed to progress further on the programme.
The HCPC Standards of Proficiency for practitioner psychologists
BPS Accreditation through partnership handbook
Placement contract
Sample placement contract
Supervisor’s Assessment of Trainee (SAT) form – February 2023 onwards
Placement Audit and Log (PALOG)
Feedback from people who trainees have been working with – guidance for supervisors and trainees
Providing feedback about trainee clinical psychologists – client information sheet
Providing feedback about the trainee clinical psychologist you are – feedback form