Unit Outline

This unit considers common professional and ethical issues in psychological practice. You will be introduced to key ethical codes, guidelines, standards and legislation relevant to psychology practice. Ethical decision-making models will be applied to real-world case examples to assist you in identifying ethical and professional issues, responsibilities and obligations.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1	Implement ethical decision making frameworks to inform practices that enhance client, practitioner and community safety.
2	Critically apply legislation, codes, guidelines, and standards to respond to common ethical and professional issues that arise in psychological practice.
3	Integrate integrity, truthfulness, dependability, and compassion into professional practice to preserve community trust and confidence in the profession.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Anti-requisite (mutual excl)	KHA734

Alterations as a result of student feedback

As always, the teaching team will greatly appreciate your feedback both informally during the delivery of the unit in 2026, and formally through the University of Tasmania’s Unit Survey following your completion of the unit.

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	OSCE	See the MyLO site for the due date	0 %	LO1, LO2, LO3
Assessment Task 2:	Ethical Decision-Making Practical Exercise	Week 2	0 %	LO1, LO2, LO3
Assessment Task 3:	Ethical Verbal Communication Practical Exercise	Week 4	0 %	LO1, LO3
Assessment Task 4:	Ethical Written Communication Practical Exercise	Week 9	0 %	LO1, LO2, LO3
Assessment Task 5:	Ethical and Professional Conduct	Refer to Assessment Description	0 %	LO2, LO3

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: OSCE

Task Description:

For the PSY702 Ethics and Professional Psychology Practice 1 OSCE, you will be required to demonstrate competency in identifying and responding to an ethical dilemma.
You must successfully pass all assessment criteria for the OSCE for PSY702 to achieve an overall passing grade on this examination and this unit. If you do not demonstrate competency on this OSCE station, you will be provided remedial feedback and will be required to repeat this OSCE at a date determined by the School of Psychological Sciences. If after a second attempt, you are unable to demonstrate competency, you will be required to repeat this unit.
You will be required to sign a statutory declaration stating you will not disclose the contents of the OSCE to anyone.

Task Length:

15 minutes

Due Date:

See the MyLO site for the due date

Weight:

0 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Critically analyse the ethical and professional issues presented by the dilemma, including potential risks to client, practitioner and community safety.	LO2
2	Explain why the identified issues are of concern, referencing relevant legislation, codes, guidelines and professional standards.	LO1
3	Communicate a response that addresses the ethical and professional dilemma.	LO1, LO3

Assessment Task 2: Ethical Decision-Making Practical Exercise

Task Description:

Apply an ethical decision-making model and reflect on your reasoning to determine a course of action in response to ethical dilemmas encountered in psychological practice.
You must successfully pass all assessment criteria to pass this task and to achieve an overall passing grade in this unit. If you do not demonstrate competency on this task you will be provided remedial feedback and will be required to repeat this task at a date determined by the School of Psychological Sciences. If after a second attempt, you are unable to demonstrate competency, you will be required to repeat this unit.

Task Length:

60 minutes

Due Date:

Week 2

Weight:

0 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Critically reflect on the ethical, legal and professional issues presented by the dilemma(s).	LO1
2	Apply an ethical decision making model to determine a course of action.	LO2
3	Communicate a response that addresses the ethical and professional dilemma(s).	LO3

Assessment Task 3: Ethical Verbal Communication Practical Exercise

Task Description:

You will be required to communicate the outcome of ethical decisions and/or ethical issues in professional practice.
You must successfully pass this task to achieve an overall passing grade in this unit. If you do not demonstrate competency on this task you will be provided remedial feedback and will be required to repeat this task at a date determined by the School of Psychological Sciences. If after a second attempt, you are unable to demonstrate competency, you will be required to repeat this unit.

Task Length:

60 minutes

Due Date:

Week 4

Weight:

0 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Critically analyse ethical, legal, and professional issues within diverse psychological practice contexts.	LO1
2	Design and deliver clear and contextually appropriate communication strategies in response to ethical and professional issues within diverse psychological practice contexts.	LO1, LO3

Assessment Task 4: Ethical Written Communication Practical Exercise

Task Description:

You will be required to prepare a concise file note documenting your professional response to an ethical dilemma in psychological practice that is suitable for inclusion in professional records.

You must successfully pass all assessment criteria to pass this task and to achieve an overall passing grade in this unit. If you do not demonstrate competency on this task you will be provided remedial feedback and will be required to repeat this task at a date determined by the School of Psychological Sciences. If after a second attempt, you are unable to demonstrate competency, you will be required to repeat this unit.

Task Length:

200 words

Due Date:

Week 9

Weight:

0 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Critically reflect on the ethical, legal and professional issues presented by the dilemma.	LO1, LO2
2	Compose a file note for professional records that uses appropriate record-keeping conventions and terminology.	LO3

Assessment Task 5: Ethical and Professional Conduct

Task Description:

You will apply your knowledge of ethical, legal, and professional standards with peers and other professionals in weekly workshop activities. You will reflect on your own and others’ conduct and reflexively evaluate your professional stance.

You must pass all criteria on this assessment to achieve a UP for this assessment task. If you do not achieve a UP for this task you will be required to be reassessed. If following reassessment, you are unable to achieve a UP grade you will receive an NN for this task, and an NN for this unit overall.

Task Length:

Variable

Due Date:

Refer to Assessment Description

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes.
Your grade will be determined in the following way:
All assessments within the Postgraduate Professional Training Programs at the University of Tasmania adhere to an ungraded pass profile. Similarly, your academic transcript will use this same grading system.

This means all assessable work will be graded as either UP (ungraded pass) or NN (fail grade); a grade of NN on an assessment task indicates you need to continue towards achieving that competency. You are required to achieve a UP on all assessment pieces in order to successfully pass this unit of study. Please note that to achieve a UP grade on an assessment piece you must pass all criteria for the assessment.

At the end of semester, you may receive a grade of AO (assessment ongoing). An AO grade is used when some assessment tasks for the unit have not been completed at the end of semester or when resubmissions are needed before a mark can be finalised.

Marks are reviewed by the Unit Coordinator and School of Psychological Sciences Assessment Committee and may be adjusted to ensure fairness, consistency, and appropriateness before the final marks and grades are assigned in accordance with University policy and the specified unit assessment. Grades and marks are also reviewed by the Health Assessors’ Committee.
Note: In order to obtain a full passing grade in this unit, you must submit and achieve a UP grade on all assessable work.

Academic progress review

The results for this unit may be included in a review of your academic progress. For information about progress reviews and what they mean for all students, see Academic Progress Review in the Student Portal.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.