Topic 3: Professional Competence and Training

By the end of this topic, you should be able to do the following:

1. Define the term “professional competence.”

2. Describe the dimensions of professional competence.

3. Describe at least two codes of ethics pertaining to professional

competence.

4. Discuss professional education and training available for professional

psychologists.

5. Assess and evaluate psychologists’ professional competencies based on

specific criteria.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: There is nothing more dangerous than

ignorance in action.

This topic is a continued discussion from Topic 2. In the previous topic, we

Identified and discussed the specific requirements to become
psychologists. Earning a degree, obtaining a practising license, becoming
a member of the Professional association and continuing education and
training in a specialised Area are the steps to develop and enhance
competence among professionals in Various fields including psychology
and counselling.

A competent professional must:

• be aware of his or her scope of expertise;

• have knowledge in the area of his or her competence; and

• must possess the necessary skills to be able to work effectively and

ethically with diverse clients or customers in specific contexts.

In this topic, we will discuss professional competence and training of

Psychologists that includes:

• a discussion on the definition of professional competence;

• the code of ethics pertaining to professional competence;

• the legal and ethical aspects of counsellor competence;

• the education and training for professional development; and

• the assessment of professional competence.

3.1 UNDERSTANDING PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

Fulfilling the specific requirements mentioned in Topic 2 does not

guarantee you to become a competent professional. Why? It is because:

• competence is a multi-dimensional construct which involves several

dimensions or factors as the constituents of the construct; and

• striving for competence is a lifelong endeavour (Corey et al., 2010, p.

323).

Therefore, do not expect that once you have finished reading this module,
you will know everything about becoming a competent professional! It
takes time and a lot of practice to develop, achieve, maintain, and
enhance our abilities and competencies.

What does professional competence mean? Consider the following

definitions (refer to Table 3.1):

Table 3.1: Definitions of Professional Competence

Barnett and Johnson (2008) : Professional competence refers to the

necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and values to provide effective
services.

Bennett et al. (2006) : Professional competence refers to the ability to

perform or practise according to the standards of the profession

Both definitions imply that understanding professional competence as a

concept involves assessing several dimensions such as:

• knowledge and skills (component-based concept); and

• exploring the way, a professional works (practice-based concept).

Koocher and Keith-Spiegel (2008) define high-quality professional practice

based on acquisition of two different types of competencies as described
in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Two Different Types of Competencies

Intellectual competence : This refers to the acquisition of knowledge

based on empirical research and sound clinical scholarship regarding
practise with a particular client population. Intellectual competence may
also refer to a general ability to assess, conceptualise, and plan
appropriate treatment for a particular client or problem. So, defining
intellectual competence can be translated into this simple question: What
does one know and not know?

Emotional competence : This may refer to three affective domains of

professionals:

• Professionals’ ability – To emotionally contain and tolerate emerging

issues and challenges in their work;

• Professionals’ willingness and skills – At detecting the intrusion of

personal biases and values into their work; and

• Professionals’ capacity – For self-care or self-therapy during and after

difficult psychotherapy or counselling. So, defining emotional competence
can be translated into one simple question:

• How does one work and cope with work stressors?

Corey et al. (2010) defined professional competence from a different

perspective that competence is both an ethical and legal concept (see
Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1: Professional Competence is Both Legal and Ethical Dimension

Legal dimension : competence refers to the acquisition of necessary

knowledge, skills, abilities, and values to avoid malpractice suits, which
can be subjected to disciplinary proceedings and/or held legally
responsible in a court of law.

Ethical dimension : competence refers to the acquisition of necessary

knowledge, skills, abilities and values to protect and effectively and
ethically serve clients.

Overall, understanding the concept of professional competence is

important for all mental health professionals such as therapists and
counsellors because such understanding shapes their practices to suit a
particular client population.

3.1.1 Ethics Codes on Professional Competence

What ethical standards offer guidance in determining competence among

professionals? To answer this question, let us study some extracts from
selected codes of ethics in psychology or psychology-related fields (refer
to Table 3.3).

Table 3.3: Selected Extracts from Various Codes of Ethics on Professional

Competence Standards

Sources/Codes and Extracts of Codes

American Psychological Association (2010): Psychologists provide

services, teach, and conduct research with populations and in areas only
within the boundaries of their competence based on their education,
training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional
experience.

Australian Psychological Society (2007):

- B.1.1. Psychologists bring and maintain appropriate skills and

learning to their areas of professional practice.
- B.1.2. Psychologists only provide psychological services within the
boundaries of their professional competence. This includes, but is
not restricted to:
a) Working within the limits of their education, training, supervised
experience, and appropriate professional experience;
b) Basing their service on the established knowledge of the discipline
and profession of psychology;
c) Adhering to the Code and Guidelines;
d) Complying with the law of the jurisdiction in which they provide
psychological services; and
e) Ensuring that their emotional, mental, and physical states do not
impair their ability to provide competent psychological service.

Lembaga Kaunselor (1999). Counsellor Rules (Conduct and Disciplinary)

1999 (Amended 2010): Qualifications and Training: A registered counsellor
who is responsible in training counsellors must have qualifications in the
field of his/her teaching.

a. A registered counsellor must comply with the guidelines

related to practical training, and roles of trainees and trainers
which have been set by the Board.
b. A registered counsellor involved in training must explain to
trainees the requirements and contents of the training
programme and career opportunities in counselling before the
training starts.

Lembaga Kaunselor (1999). Counsellor Code of Ethics (1194, 1999): No

specific information on professional competence. The following
information was taken under Kod Tatalaku or code of practice:
 a. Counsellors must guide their actions (practice) to uphold the
standard and identity of a counsellor and the integrity of a
counselling profession.
b. Counsellors must always strive to evaluate and upgrade their
knowledge, competence, and skills in the field of their
profession.
c. Counsellors must carry out their duties responsibly,
objectively, and sincerely in accordance with the counselling
profession.
d. Counsellors must be supervised and their counselling tasks
must be evaluated by professional supervisors via regular
supervision and consultative support.

American Counseling Association (2005): Counsellors practise only within

the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training,
supervised experienced, state and national professional credentials, and
appropriate professional experience. Counsellors gain knowledge,
personal awareness, sensitivity, and skills pertinent to working with a
diverse client population. (C.2.a.)

Canadian Counselling Association (2007): Counsellors limit their

counselling services and practices to those within their professional
competence by virtue of their education and professional experience, and
consistent with any requirements for provincial and national credentials.
They refer to other professionals, when the counselling needs of clients
exceed their level of competence. (A.3.)

Based on the information from these codes, we can summarise a few key
points:

(a) Knowledge, abilities, skills, awareness, sensitivity, and experience are

some dimensions of professional competence.

(b) Professional competence must be acquired, developed, maintained,

and upgraded through education, training, supervised experience,
consultation, study, or professional experience.

(c) Professional competence has limits, and competent professionals must

recognise their limitations, strengths, and skills. If a professional has
reached the limit of his or her professional competence, the ethical
practice requires that he or she refers to another competent professional.

3.1.2 Professional Training

Professionals have a legal and ethical responsibilities to develop and

upgrade their skills. This is evidenced further by the following quote from
the APA Code of Ethics (2010):
Psychologists undertake ongoing efforts to develop and maintain their
competence. (2.0.3)

There are six ways to developing and maintaining professional

competence as illustrated in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2: Six Ways to Developing and Maintaining Professional

Competence

i. Education: gaining formal education from specific educational

programmes endorsed and accredited by the professional of
interest.
ii. Training: participating in formal (internship) and off-campus training
to acquire practical knowledge and experience in the area of your
formal education.
iii. Supervised experience: working with colleagues or professionals
who have more experience especially when you are beginning to
develop competencies in new areas of practice.
iv. Consultation: seeking collegial consultation or professional
supervision with acknowledged experts before practicing outside the
area which you have received formal education and training.
v. Further study: always seek opportunities to further your studies to
upgrade your knowledge, skills, and expertise.
vi. Profesional experience: always seek opportunities to gain new skills
by attending seminars, conferences and conventions, reading books
and professional journal articles, by surfing the internet, taking
short-term courses in areas which you have limited knowledge and
skills, and by participating in workshops.

Training programmes have an ethical responsibility to:

(a) Establish clear selection criteria for each programme.

(b) Screen potential candidates to protect public from incompetent

practitioners. For example, in counselling programmes, both paper-based
assessments and interviews are necessary to ensure the personality,
interest, and the ability of the candidates match with programme
objectives.

(c) Provide exposure to major contemporary counselling theories.

(d) Teach students strengths and limitations of theories.

(e) Emphasise theoretical and practical components of education and

training.

(f) Combine academic and personal learning.

(g) Teach a range of skills to work well with diverse clients.

(h) Provide training in ethics.

To become a registered Counsellor in Malaysia, one needs to have the

following:

(a) A bachelor’s degree and practical experience.

(b) Complete a bachelor’s degree in counselling, which includes theories

of counselling and psychotherapy, sociology, and social psychology. This
typically takes four years to complete.

(c) Apply to the Lembaga Kaunselor Malaysia to become a registered

counsellor. To be registered, you must schedule an interview in which your
skills and knowledge of counselling, therapy theories, and applications will
be tested.

(d) Consider getting a counselling certification. Certificate courses, in

addition to deepening your knowledge, can teach you about new
developments and practices in the counselling world.

(e) Gain experience by working in an entry-level position. Your

responsibilities may initially be limited to administrative tasks, but as you
gain more work experience, you will be assigned client-facing
responsibilities.

(f) Consider earning a master’s degree in counselling to expand your

career options. You can advance to senior counsellor, counsellor
supervisor, or trainer, as well as management and consultancy positions.

3.2 ASSESSING PROFESSIONALLY COMPETENT PRACTICE

Professionals practise only within the boundaries of their competence

based on the following criteria (refer to Figure 3.3):

Figure 3.3: Five Criteria of Professional Practise’s Competence

a) Education
b) Training
c) Supervised experience
d) State and national professional credentials
e) Appropriate professional experience
Unfortunately, these criteria do not mean that professionals cannot
branch out into new areas of practice, which involves the following
questions:

• How to assess and evaluate one’s practices?

• How to make an objective and honest assessment on whether to refer

clients whose problems seemed too difficult for you, or to proceed
providing psychological services?

3.2.1 Assessing Professional Competence among Trainees

In the United States, there are numerous models for assessing

professional competencies of psychology students and practitioners. For
example, a model for understanding and measuring competence in
professional psychology across training levels was recently proposed by a
group of scholars and researchers from the field (Fouad et al., 2009). The
model is intended as a resource for those involved in training and
assessing for competence.

It comprises several core foundational and functional competencies in

professional psychology across three levels of professional development:

• readiness for practicum;

• readiness for internship; and

• readiness for entry to practice.

Under each level, the model lists 15 foundational and functional

components which comprise the core competencies and behavioural
statements that provide operational descriptions of the essential
elements.

The foundational components are:

(a) Professionalism – Professional values and ethics as evidenced in

behaviour and comportment that reflects the values and ethics of
psychology, integrity, and responsibility;

(b) Reflective practice/self-assessment/self-care – Practice conducted with

personal and professional self-awareness and reflections; with awareness
of competencies; with appropriate self-care;

(c) Scientific knowledge and methods – Understanding of research, its

methodology, techniques of data collection and analysis, biological bases
of behaviour, cognitive-affective bases of behaviour, and development
across the lifespan. Respect for scientifically-derived knowledge;
(d) Relationships – Relate effectively and meaningfully with individuals,
groups, and/or communities;

(e) Individual and cultural diversity – Awareness, sensitivity, and skills in

working professionally with diverse individuals, groups and communities
who represent various cultural and personal backgrounds and
characteristics defined broadly and consistent with APA policy;

(f) Ethical legal standards and policy – Application of ethical concepts and
awareness of legal issues regarding professional activities with individuals,
groups, and organisations; and

(g) Interdisciplinary systems – Knowledge of key issues and concepts in

related disciplines. Identify and interact with professionals in multiple
disciplines.

The functional components are:

(a) Assessment – Assessment and diagnosis of problems, capabilities and

issues associated with individuals, groups, and/or organisations;

(b) Intervention – Interventions designed to alleviate suffering and to

promote health and well-being of individuals, groups, and/or
organisations;

(c) Consultation – The ability to provide expert guidance or professional

assistance in response to a client’s needs or goals;

(d) Research/evaluation – Generating research that contributes to the

professional knowledge base and/or evaluates the reflectiveness of
various professional activities;

(e) Supervision – Supervision and training in the professional knowledge

base and of evaluation of the effectiveness of various professional
activities;

(f) Teaching – Providing instruction, disseminating knowledge, and

evaluating acquisition of knowledge and skills in professional psychology;

(g) Management-administration – Manage the direct delivery of services

(DDS) and/or the administration of organisations, programmes, or
agencies (OPA); and

(h) Advocacy – Actions targeting the impact of social, political, economic,

or cultural factors to promote change at the individual (client),
institutional, and/or systems level.
3.2.2 Assessing Professional Competence among Practitioners

Corey et al. (2010) provided some guidelines or rules of thumb to help

mental health professionals assess their professional competence before
making specific decisions regarding their practices:

(a) Peer Review: Participate in peer review activities (if available) so that
you (and other practitioners within a profession) can assess one anotherÊs
services.

(b) Consultation with Colleagues: Always consult with colleagues if unsure

of the ability to provide services in a particular area of counselling
practice.

(c) Peer-supervision Groups: These are useful for both trainees and
practitioners because they “foster the development of skills, conceptual
growth, participation, instructive feedback, and self-monitoring” (p. 360).

(d) Self-assessment and Self-reflection: Always engage in an ongoing

process of self-assessment and self-reflection so that if a client’s
counselling needs exceed your competence, you know whether to either:

(i) Develop the competence necessary to treat the client; or

(ii) Refer that particular client to another professional who has the
competence to deal with the client’s counselling needs.

(e) Referrals

Making referrals invoice specialised knowledge and skills.

Before making referrals:

(i) Be aware that you do not have the skills needed to help the client. For
example, if you are trained in couple therapy involving “normal couples”
but the clients are involved in a lesbian relationship, then you need to
assess your competence and confidence level.

(ii) You must have sufficient information regarding referral resources

including:

• A list of appropriate, qualified referral resources in similar areas of your

expertise. For example, the name, work address, contact details, and
basic qualifications of mental health professionals outside your work
organisation but in similar areas of expertise; and

• A list of appropriate, qualified referral resources in different areas of

practice.
When making the referral, you must:

(i) know the reason why you decide to refer your clients;

(ii) understand your clients’ state of mind during the time of making the
referral (clients can be negatively affected if you refer them too quickly);

(iii) have contacted other professionals as nominated qualified referral

resources; and

(iv) possess culturally-sensitive skills to demonstrate that a referral is in

the clients’ best interest, so that there is a greater chance that the clients
will accept the referral.

Now, consider the following case study to assess your competence in

working with a specialised client population in counselling.

The Case of Swee Lian

Swee Lian, a 17-year-old secondary school student, is being seen by the

school counsellor, Kamal, who is trained in academic and career
counselling, at the request of her form teacher, Shimala. Swee Lian’s
performance in school work has suddenly dropped, she has become
withdrawn socially and Shimala is concerned that Swee Lian would not be
able to perform well in her upcoming examinations if her academic
problems were not addressed immediately.

After individual counselling sessions with Swee Lian over several weeks,
the student tells her counsellor that she has thought of committing suicide
even though she has not made any specific plans. Swee Lian says she
could not cope with the stress of preparing for the examinations and the
pressure from her parents who wanted her to obtain excellent results.
Kamal has never dealt with clients with suicidal tendencies before and he
is aware that continuing the counselling sessions with his client would be
difficult and may involve legal-ethical obligations. If you are in Kamal’s
position, what would be the best possible course of action to take – to
refer or not to refer? Why?

To help you in decision making, let us question our knowledge on

professional competence.

(a) What does the code of ethics say about professional competence
standards?

(b) If you decide to continue the session:

(i) What ethical and legal obligations would you have towards Swee
Lian’s parents, her class teacher, and the school principal?
 (ii) What are the rights of the parents?

(iii) What are the rights of the school principal?

(iv) Would you feel confident and prepared to continue dealing with
the case?

(v) If Swee Lian is suicidal, what ethical and legal obligations would
you have toward her parents and the school principal?

(c) If you decide to make a referral:

(i) How would you deal with the knowledge that you have had a
golden opportunity to branch out of your area of practice but did not
take it up?

(ii) Are you aware of your competence boundaries? Have the limits
of your competence been reached?

(iii) Do you have sufficient referral resources?

(iv) How would you tell Swee Lian about your intention of a referral
knowing that she has trusted you, accepted you as her counsellor,
and confided in you her innermost secret?

(v) How do you make this referral in such a manner that Swee Lian
will be open to accepting your suggestion, rather than be harmed by
it?

3.2.3 Maintaining Professional Competence: Continuing Professional

Education, Certification, and Licensure

Corey et al. (2010): Professionals are required to engage in ongoing study,

education, training, and consultation in their areas of practice.

Most codes of ethics state their requirements for continuing professional

education and development. For example, the ACA Code of Ethics (2005)
states:

Counselors recognise the need for continuing education to acquire and

maintain a reasonable level of awareness of current scientific and
professional information in their fields of activity. They take steps to
maintain competence in the skills they use, are open to new procedures,
and keep current with the diverse populations and specific populations
with whom they work. (C.2.f.)

So, one way to maintain professional competence is by continuing

professional education and training.
Besides continuing professional education, certification, and licensure are
examples of the specific criteria of a profession (as discussed in Topic 2).
In order to maintain professional competence, practitioners have a legal-
ethical responsibility to become registered-certified professionals with
their respective professional board, to obtain a practising licence before
commencing with their practices, and to renew their practising licences
before the licence expires.

They must comply with these requirements in order to:

• uphold and protect the welfare of others (clients);

• avoid malpractice suits; and

• be ethical.

Table 3.4 listed the key characteristics of certification and licensure.

Table 3.4: Key Characteristics of Certification and Licensure (Source: Corey

et al. (2010))

Certification

• Voluntary attempt by a group to promote professional identity.

• Attempts to verify qualifications.

• Sets minimum standards.

• Assure quality practice.

Licensure

• Governs professional practice.

• Highlights uniqueness of an occupation.

• Restricts both the use of title and practice of occupation.

Some professional bodies from various states or countries set specific

requirements that most mental health professional should demonstrate,
as a basis for re-licensure or re-certification, that they have completed a
minimal number of continuing education activities. However, in Malaysia,
no specific requirements are formulated for assessing applications for re-
licensure and re-certification.