Objective and Principles
- Continuing Education (CE) in Educational Psychology is intended to enhance further education and training of members in their practice of educational psychology through planned and purposeful educational activities. It aims to assist members to maintain and improve the quality of the services provided to the public.
- CE is broadly defined as any activity that is directly related to the maintenance and improvement of members’ professional knowledge, competence and skills in educational psychology. There are multiple avenues, and hence different kinds of activities, for promoting growth.
- CE is mandatory for the renewal of HKAEP membership.
1. Requirements and Recognition
A CE cycle is one calendar year. A minimum of 15 points is required within each cycle. There is a grace period for submission of CEUs, with a minimum of 5 CEUs per CE cycle to be eligible for registration renewal. Within and by the end of every 3 CE cycles, registrants must have obtained a total of 45 CEUs in order to be eligible for registration renewal. If a Member fails to fulfil the CE requirements for their first and second CE cycles, the Committee will first send reminder to the Member to input their CEUs. If a Member fails to fulfil the CE requirements (total of 45 CEUs) by their third CE cycle, the Committee will send reminder to the and request the Member to provide explanations within 28 days. The Committee will consider if it can be addressed through remedial action while allowing the Member to remain registered. The Committee may agree to renew the registration but impose a condition or conditions that require the Member to undertake one or more of the following:
- additional CPD
- further education
Example: Actions requested if a Member failed to fulfil the CE requirements:
Cycle failed | Action |
1 | Receive reminder from CE Committee to input CEUs, must obtain minimum 5 CEUs |
2 | Receive from CE Committee to input CEUs, must obtain minimum 5 CEUs |
3 | Receive reminder from CE Committee to input CEUs and a request to provide explanation within 28 days, must obtain a total of 45 CEUs for the last 3 CE cycles |
In more serious cases where the Committee reasonably believes that the failure of the Member to meet CE requirements cannot be remedied through remedial action, the Committee may recommend to the HKAEP Professional Council to take disciplinary action, such as be removed from the Register and can only re-apply after fulfilling outstanding CEUs.
For current Members, the first cycle will begin on 1st January. For new Members who enroll in January to June, the cycle will begin on the following 1st January after admission to membership. For new Members who enroll in July to December, the cycle will begin on 1st January after next.
The following table provide an example of when a Member’s CE Cycle starts, ends and how many CEUs he/she should have by the end of the CE Cycles:
Example 1: Date of Enrolment of Member: 31/5/2019
1st CE Cycle | No. of CEUs Required (Actual Required/Minimum) | 2nd CE Cycle | No. of CEUs Required (Actual Required/Minimum) | 3rd CE Cycle | No. of CEUs Required (Actual Required/Minimum) |
1/1/2020 – 31/12/2020 | 15/5 | 1/1/2021 – 31/12/2021 | 15/5 | 1/1/2022 – 31/12/2022 | 15/5 |
Total number of CEUs required by the end of the 3rd CE Cycle | 45 |
Example 2: Date of Enrolment of Member: 31/8/2019
1st CE Cycle | No. of CEUs Required (Actual Required/Minimum) | 2nd CE Cycle | No. of CEUs Required (Actual Required/Minimum) | 3rd CE Cycle | No. of CEUs Required (Actual Required/Minimum) |
1/1/2021 – 31/12/2021 | 15/5 | 1/1/2022 – 31/12/2022 | 15/5 | 1/1/2023 – 31/12/2023 | 15/5 |
Total number of CEUs required by the end of the 3rd CE Cycle | 45 |
Members should record their CE activities using the on-line submission mechanism of the HKAEP webpage. They should keep evidence (e.g., certificate of attendance) of their CE activities. If organizers of CE activities do not issue certificates, members may download the generic form of certificate from the HKAEP webpage and ask the organizers to sign and verify. Members are not required to submit the evidence unless they are called upon by the CE Committee by the end of a CE cycle.
At the end of each CE cycle, the CE Committee will randomly examine the evidence of CE activities of at least 5% of the members. Members who have been called upon should send the evidence to the CE Committee for examination. Members who fail to provide evidence or make false claims will be recommended to the HKAEP Professional Council to take disciplinary action, such as be removed from the Register.
2. Quantification of CE Activities
Activity *subject to approval of CE committee on the relevancy to educational psychology practices |
CEU | Examples of Evidence | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Attending conference/workshop/ lecture/seminar | 1 CEU per hour (max 6 CEUs on one day) |
a. Certificate of attendance & b. Flyer or web information about the activity |
2 | Enrolment in a progamme of study leading to a relevant degree, diploma, or certificate | Full-time programme: 15 CEUs/term 30 CEUs per year Part-time programme: 10 CEUs/term 20 CEUs per year |
a. Transcript/diploma & b. Handbook or web information about the programme |
3 | Receiving supervision | 1 CEU per hour (max 5 CEUs per CE cycle) |
a. Letter with explanation on the relevancy to educational psychology practice signed by supervisor & b. Log sheet of the supervisory activities |
4 | Attachment/visit to places of good practice | 1 CEU per hour (max 3 CEUs on one day) |
a. Letter or certificate issued & b. Flyer or web information about the host institutes |
5 | Research/Publications | Each report of at least 1000 words: 5 CEUs Each journal article/book chapter: 15 CEUs Each book: 30 CEUs |
a. Copy of the report, article, chapter or book |
6 | Self-study (e.g. reading journal articles, books or watching teaching videos) | A 300-word written report for journal articles: 1 CEU A 300-word report on 1-hour video: 1 CEU A 600-word report on a book: 2 CEUs |
a. Copy of the report |
7 | Offering training/supervision to psychologists or trainees | 1 CEU per hour (max 10 CEUs per CE cycle) |
a. Letter from the training institutes or relevant agencies |
8 | Participation in committee work of psychological nature (e.g. HKAEP or DEP committee) |
1 CEU per hour (max 5 CEUs per CE cycle) |
a. Letter from the professional body or b. Minutes/documents of committee work |
9 | Offering voluntary community services on the dissemination of educational psychology | 1 CEU per hour (max 5 CEUs per CE cycle) |
a. Invitation letter from the organizer |
3. Recognition of CE Activities
- The CE Committee will consider any organizer(s) pronounced for providing quality training for psychologists as a CE provider. The organizer must be of good standing in the local and/or international community and have the knowledge, experience or other credentials that are relevant for providing the proposed CE event to psychologist. CE providers may include but not limited to:
a. The Hong Kong Psychological Society;
b. Division of Educational Psychology, The Hong Kong Psychological Society;
c. Departments of Psychology in local and overseas institutions of higher learning recognized by the Committee;
d. Other health care professional societies, e.g. psychiatrist, clinical psychologists;
e. Overseas professional psychological societies;
f. Others as recognized by CE Committee. - The CE Committee will consider any training provider or speaker for providing quality training for psychologists as a CE provider. The speaker must be of good standing in the local and/or international community and have the knowledge, experience, training and qualifications that are necessary for providing the proposed CE event to psychologists. The speaker, preferably, has attained master’s level or equivalent in the field.
- Evidence should be provided to show that content of the activity is instrumental to members’ professional growth in educational psychology.
♦ The application form for recognition may be downloaded from the website of the HKAEP.
►Checking and Entering Continuing Education Records : Click Here (Members Only)