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 three calendar years. Members must have obtained a total of 45 CEUs within one CE cycle. A minimum of 5 CEUs is expected within each year for registration renewal.
For the first and second year of the cycle, if a Member fails to fulfil the CE requirements of a minimum of 5 CEUs, the Committee will send a reminder within 7 days to the Member to input their CEUs. There is a grace period of 3 months for submission of CEUs to be eligible for registration renewal. If a Member fails to fulfil the minimum requirements by the end of the grace period, his/her membership will become inactive. He/she will then be required to submit a minimum of 5 CEUs, a reinstatement form and a reinstatement fee within the next 9 months in order to be eligible for renewing the membership.
By the end of the CE Cycle, Members must have obtained a total of 45 CEUs in order to be eligible for registration renewal. The Committee will send a reminder within 7 days to the Member to input their CEUs if he/she fails to fulfill the requirement. A grace period of 3 months will be granted for Members to fulfill such requirements. If a Member fails to fulfill the requirements by the end of the grace period, his/her membership will be ceased.
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 CE
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
5/5
1/1/2021 – 31/12/2021
5/5
1/1/2022 – 31/12/2022
35/5
*Member had to fulfil the total number of 45 CEUs at the end of the CE Cycle, hence he/she would need 35 CEUs in the third year given he/she had only met the 5 CEUs minimum requirements each year in the first 2 years
Total number of CEUs required by the end of the 3rd CE Cycle
45
✓ CE Requirements Met
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
✓ CE Requirements Met
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
The following table indicates the number of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) that may be accepted in various activities.
Activity *subject to approval of CE committee on the relevancy to educational psychology practices
1 CEU per hour
(max 6 CEUs on one day & max 10 CEUs per activity)
a. Certificate of attendance AND
b. Flyer or web information about the activity (including the total number of activity hours)
2.
Enrolment in a progamme of study leading to a relevant degree, diploma, or certificate
Full-time programme:
15 CEUs per term
30 CEUs per year
Part-time programme:
10 CEUs per term
20 CEUs per year
a. Transcript or diploma AND
b. Handbook or web information about the programme
3.
Receiving supervision
1 CEU per hour
(max 5 CEUs per year)
a. Letter with explanation on the relevancy to educational psychology practice signed by supervisor AND
b. Log sheet of the supervisory activities
4.
Attachment or visit to places of good practice
1 CEU per hour
(max 3 CEUs on one day, max 10 CEUs per year)
a. Letter or certificate issued AND
b. Flyer or web information about the host institutes
5.
Research or Publications
Each report of at least 1000 words: 5 CEUs
Each journal article or 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
(max 5 CEUs per year)
a. Copy of the report
7.
Offering training or supervision to psychologists or trainees
1 CEU per hour
(max 10 CEUs per year)
a. Letter from the training institutes or relevant agencies
8.
Participation in committee work of psychological nature
(e.g. HKAEP or DEP committee)
Max 5 CEUs per year
a. Letter from the professional body OR
b. Certificate issued by professional body
9.
Offering voluntary community services on the dissemination of educational psychology
1 CEU per one-off event, 5 CEUs per annual engagement
(max 5 CEUs per year)
a. Invitation letter from the organizer
1For CE activities that stretch over two calendar years, CEUs can only be obtained once. (Those in category 2 are exceptional when transcript can be provided each term or year.)
3. Recognition of CE Activities
♦ Organizer, training provider or speaker may apply to the CE Committee to seek prior recognition of CE activities. Recognition of CE activities are subject to the following criteria:
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)
