Education and Training
Increase exposure to personality assessment throughout the psychology education lifespan!
The mission of this interest group is to improve the quality of assessment training and supervision in the field of psychology, through creating, collecting, and disseminating resources; promoting best practices in education, supervision, and practice; offering learning opportunities to educators and supervisors; and advocating for rigorous assessment training at all career stages. Members of this interest group include academic and field-based trainers, supervisors, students, clinicians, and researchers. Topics addressed include bridging the gap between assessment education in graduate school and the knowledge and skills necessary for internship, licensure, and assessment-related careers; pedagogy and how to best assess competency at different levels of training; and how to best support those teaching and supervising assessment across diverse settings, different program types, and to students with varying experience. Finally, the group aims to increase the quantity and quality of exposure to personality assessment available to students throughout the education lifespan, from undergraduate through postgraduate settings.
WELCOME LETTER
Dear Education and Training Interest Group Member,
We would like to take a moment to welcome you to your interest group’s page! Here, you will find our interest group’s goals for the year, meeting information, and important updates. We have exciting ongoing and future projects, plenty of resources, and we welcome input from each of you on how we can improve this page and our group.
At the forefront of our minds for the 2021-2022 year is drafting a public statement on master’s-level psychological assessment training and the minimally acceptable thresholds for competency in assessment that should be met by APA-accredited master’s programs. We believe it’s necessary for SPA to weigh in on this important training issue that has broad implications for personality assessment, as well as the field of psychology more broadly. Beyond this effort, the interest group is preparing functions for this year’s annual meeting and in the process of collecting resources that may be helpful for those of you who are teaching, supervising, or training individuals in any other format. We will keep everyone updated about the progress of our statement and these endeavors through this new group page.
Please feel free to reach out to Adam and/or Abby with any comments or recommendations you have for the interest group and this page. We welcome feedback from our members and value taking a collaborative approach to achieving our group goals. We look forward to (hopefully) seeing many of you at the upcoming 2022 SPA Conference in Chicago, IL!
GOALS
For the 2021-2022 year, the interest group’s goals are as follows:
- Draft a public statement regarding master’s-level psychological assessment training in response to calls for public comment from American Psychological Association (APA).
- Prepare and submit a roundtable discussion to the upcoming 2022 SPA Conference, where roadblocks and pitfalls of assessment at various training levels and different settings will be discussed.
- Continue to promote membership in the interest group of personality assessment enthusiasts at all career stages.
- Continue to identify and refine the interest group’s short- and long-term goals.
MEETING INFO
Presently, the Education and Training Interest Group hosts scheduled meetings three times per year: Once during the SPA’s annual meeting, once during the fall (between September and January), and once during the summer (between May and August). Additional meetings and events are sometimes planned in response to specific events or at the request of group members. You will be emailed as early as possible before these meetings to provide you details.