On 1 December 2025, the Psychology Board of Australia enacted three regulatory instruments simultaneously: updated 5+1 Guidelines, rewritten professional competencies, and a new Code of Conduct.
Together, they replaced the regulatory architecture that had governed psychology supervision for nearly 15 years. The combined effect is a decisive shift from a time-based, document-submission model to a competency-based, supervisor-attestation model.
AHPRA no longer reviews evidence of capability during the internship. Instead, it relies entirely on the principal supervisor’s final attestation that the provisional psychologist is competent.
What are the five changes supervisors need to know right now?
If you’re a Board-Approved Supervisor overseeing provisional psychologists through the general registration pathway, five changes demand your attention immediately.
1. You are now the sole practice-based checkpoint
The Board no longer reviews progress reports, logbooks, or case studies during the internship. PACF-76 — the Final Assessment of Competence — is the singular formal checkpoint between a provisional psychologist and general registration.
Previously, the Board received PRFI-76 progress reports every six months, assessed submitted case studies, and maintained active oversight throughout the internship. That infrastructure is gone.
The quality assurance function that used to sit with the Board now sits with you.
[Source: December 2025 Guidelines, Section 3.5.3 and Table 2]
2. New, explicit hour minimums
The December 2025 Guidelines prescribe clear thresholds for the first time in this level of detail:
1,500 hours total supervised practice
500 hours minimum client contact (up to 60 may be simulated)
80 hours total supervision (50 individual with the principal supervisor)
60 hours education and training (must include health equity and culturally safe practice)
44 weeks FTE minimum internship duration
4 direct observation sessions per six-month period (minimum 2 assessment + 2 intervention)
Worth noting: the May 2025 consultation paper proposed removing prescribed education and training hours entirely. The final December 2025 Guidelines reversed this and retained the 60-hour minimum.
[Source: December 2025 Guidelines, Table 1; PACF-76 p.1; INPP-76 Section E]
3. You now approve secondary supervisors
Managing secondary supervisors was previously handled through PsyBA. Under the December 2025 Guidelines, this responsibility transferred to the principal supervisor.
Section 5.4.5 states: “It is the principal supervisor’s responsibility to approve an appropriate secondary supervisor.” Section 6.2.3 adds: “There is no requirement to advise Ahpra of this change.”
The secondary supervisor must hold Board-Approved Supervisor status. Hours supervised by someone without BAS status cannot be counted. You can verify BAS status using AHPRA’s Find a Supervisor search tool.
For a detailed breakdown of the operational risks, see our guide to managing secondary supervisors.
[Source: December 2025 Guidelines, Sections 5.4.5 and 6.2.3]
4. Eight reframed professional competencies
The professional competencies were last updated in 2010. The December 2025 framework introduces eight professional competencies, with three that are substantially new.
C3 — Professional reflexivity, deliberate practice, and self-care. Entirely new. Separates reflexivity and self-care from the previous “ethical, legal and professional matters” catch-all.
C7 — Health equity with diverse groups. Now uses a health equity and human rights lens and expands scope from roughly five areas of diversity to at least 17.
C8 — Culturally safe practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. PsyBA signalled the greatest change here, partnering with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychologists on development.
PsyBA published no rubrics, no exemplars, no threshold definitions. The supervisor designs the assessment approach.
[Source: Professional competencies for psychologists, effective 1 December 2025; PsyBA competencies page]
5. Concrete documentation stakes
Section 3.5.1 introduces a 14-day production requirement: if AHPRA requests the logbook, it must be submitted within 14 days. Progress reviews must be produced on request.
“Failure to maintain an accurate logbook may result in the Board not recognising a period of supervised practice and/or initiating an investigation into the professional conduct of the provisional psychologist and the supervisor.”
The Code of Conduct, Section 10.1.f, states that supervisors may be held responsible for supervisee conduct if supervision standards aren’t met. For a full breakdown, see our audit preparation guide.
[Source: December 2025 Guidelines, Section 3.5.1; Code of Conduct, Section 10.1.f; INPP-76 Section I]
What does each change mean for your Monday morning?
The removal of Board-reviewed progress reports sounds like less work. It isn’t. The Board’s previous 28-day submission deadline was an external forcing function — it imposed rhythm on documentation whether you wanted it or not.
Under the December 2025 framework, you own cadence, format, and retention entirely. The rhythm that used to come from Board deadlines now needs to come from your own practice — and that’s a real change for supervisors already managing this alongside a full caseload.
Secondary supervisor approval carries more coordination overhead than it appears on paper. When a secondary supervisor becomes unreachable, supervision hours from their sessions may be left permanently unsigned.
The new competencies require assessment without standardised tools. Eight professional competencies, three genuinely new in kind. No rubrics from the Board. No exemplar responses.
The PACF-76 asks you to initial each domain to confirm observed satisfactory performance — which means you need to have been building evidence throughout the year, not reconstructing it at the end.
The professional responsibility framework is more explicit than before. The Code of Conduct uses prescriptive language — “you must” — and is enforceable under the National Law.
What are the supervision hour requirements?
Here are the minimum thresholds under the December 2025 Guidelines at a glance:
Requirement | Minimum | Key detail |
|---|---|---|
Total supervised practice | 1,500 hours | Includes all components below |
Client contact | 500 hours | Up to 60 may be simulated |
Individual supervision with principal | 50 hours | Part of the 80-hour total |
Total supervision | 80 hours | Approximately 1:18 ratio |
Education and training | 60 hours | Must include health equity and culturally safe practice |
Internship duration | 44 weeks FTE | No maximum; Recency of Practice applies |
Direct observation | 4 per 6 months | Minimum 2 assessment + 2 intervention |
A note on the ratio: The supervision-to-practice ratio is 1:18 under the December 2025 Guidelines. Some older sources still cite 1:17 or 1:17.5 — that was the 2013 figure. Three primary sources confirm 1:18: Guidelines Table 1, INPP-76 Section F, and LBPP-76 Section C.
[Source: December 2025 Guidelines Table 1; INPP-76 Section F; LBPP-76 Section C]
What are the eight professional competencies?
The full list, with exact official names:
Applies and builds scientific knowledge of psychology to inform safe and effective practice
Practises ethically and professionally
Exercises professional reflexivity, purposeful and deliberate practice, and self-care — new
Conducts psychological assessments
Conducts psychological interventions
Communicates and relates to others effectively and appropriately
Demonstrates a health equity and human rights approach when working with people from diverse groups — substantially expanded
Demonstrates a health equity and human rights approach when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, families and communities — substantially expanded
C3: Why reflexivity is now a standalone competency
C3 separates reflexivity and self-care from the previous “ethical, legal and professional matters” catch-all. The Board’s fact sheet makes an explicit distinction between reflection (examining specific events after they occur) and reflexivity (critical self-examination of attitudes, values, and biases on an ongoing basis).
The competencies were last updated in 2010. This addition reflects 15 years of evidence on practitioner wellbeing and burnout, and signals the Board considers self-care a professional obligation rather than a personal preference.
C7: How the diversity scope expanded
C7 now uses a health equity and human rights lens and expands scope from roughly five areas of diversity to at least 17 — including neurodiversity, immigration status, and intersectionality.
The Board published a self-assessment template to help practitioners identify gaps in their competence against the expanded descriptors.
C8: What culturally safe practice means under the new framework
PsyBA published a dedicated fact sheet (hosted by TIMHWB — Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing) and partnered with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychologists on development.
Cultural safety is defined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities, not by practitioners. The descriptors include culturally safe care (C8.3), trauma-aware and culturally informed care (C8.4), learning from Aboriginal cultures and knowledges (C8.5), and self-determined decision-making (C8.6).
Where does digital competence fit?
Digital competence is not a standalone competency but is integrated across C2, C4, C5, and C6. It covers telehealth, AI-assisted practice, digital record-keeping, and digital communication ethics.
How does competency assessment work?
PACF-76 Section D lists all eight competencies. The principal supervisor initials each domain to confirm observed satisfactory performance.
There is no standardised rating scale — it is supervisor judgement against the published descriptors. For a detailed walkthrough of the PACF-76 form, see our PACF-76 practical guide.
[Source: PACF-76 Section D; Professional competencies for psychologists; PsyBA competencies page]
What is PACF-76 and what are you signing?
The Final Assessment of Competence form is completed by the principal supervisor at the end of the internship, after the provisional psychologist has met all hour requirements and passed the National Psychology Examination.
The Section E declaration: you attest that the provisional psychologist “has met all professional competencies and acquired proficiency to a level where they are able to practise independently, competently and ethically as a generally registered psychologist.”
PACF-76 is submitted to AHPRA with the application for general registration (AGEN-76). Logbooks are not submitted with it — only if separately requested. For a section-by-section walkthrough, see the PACF-76 practical guide for supervisors.
[Source: PACF-76 pp.1–3; December 2025 Guidelines Section 3.5.3]
What can AHPRA request from your supervision records?
The Board’s powers to request documentation are broad:
Logbook (LBPP-76): Can be requested at any time. Must be produced within 14 days. Must be updated weekly.
Progress reviews: Can be requested at any time. No fixed submission deadline. Format determined by the supervisor.
Any supervision documentation: The Guidelines establish that the Board can request records at any time.
For a comprehensive breakdown, see our audit preparation guide.
[Source: December 2025 Guidelines, Sections 3.5.1 and 3.5.2; Table 2]
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