Education is not received. It is achieved.
As we approach the sunsetting of the Board on Professional Standards and its regulatory functions, APsaA institutes are deep in discussion about standards and external regulation.
The Board on Professional Standards and its regulatory functions will cease activity in June 2017. In preparation, December 31, 2016, is the deadline for suspension of all regulatory activity, waivers, and approvals, with the exception of applications for training and supervising analyst appointments, for which the deadline will be April 30, 2017. Bylaw changes to sunset the Board on Professional Standards will be presented to the Executive Council and the Board on Professional Standards in January 2017 for review, and to the membership in the spring of 2017 for final vote.
The Six-Point Plan gives institutes a choice of standards, of oversight options, and whether or not they want external accreditation. APsaA institutes will have a choice of following APsaA standards using IPA requirements as guidelines, or following the requirements of the American Association for Psychoanalytic Education (AAPE) using existing APsaA standards that meet or exceed IPA standards. Both are subject to future modification: IPA standards by the APsaA Executive Council, and AAPE standards by the AAPE Board of Directors.
Institutes that follow AAPE standards will be nationally accredited through site visits conducted jointly by AAPE and the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPE). AAPE is a national standards body; ACPE is a national accrediting agency. A memorandum of understanding between the two organizations brings together external standards and national accreditation for collaboration and efficiency. AAPE requirements for TSA appointment will include certification, as well as vetting via detailed evaluation of clinical work.
Institutes that follow APsaA standards using IPA requirements as guidelines will be self-regulating and not be required to seek external oversight of standards or external accreditation. They may, however, obtain external accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPE), as well as call upon APsaA’s Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE) for consultation. The DPE aims to become a broad forum for problem solving in psychoanalytic education, beginning with existing COPE study groups. Requirements for TSA appointments involving immersion standards and certification will be locally determined.
The single most controversial issue within APsaA has been evaluation of postgraduate expertise in the form of certification and the training analyst system. We now have an opportunity to ponder the purpose of standards, and their meaning and evolution beyond APsaA reorganization. We begin by acknowledging the contributions of APsaA members who have been steadfast in their balanced approach to the education and training of future psychoanalysts. They have worked tirelessly to apply standards to meet the realities of a modern psychoanalytic practice. They teach, supervise, advise, mentor, recruit, work in administration, finance, and on innumerable committees, locally and nationally, all at considerable personal and professional sacrifice of time, energy, and money.
In performing this labor of love, each of these analysts gladly uses consensually validated educational principles. No difficult decision is made without agonizing in the way self-reflective analysts do all over the world. In our observations, such decisions are enriched, not hindered, by clear, thoughtful, aspirational, and externally vetted standards. The key to the thoughtful use of such standards is trust in the intentions and experience of those who establish such standards based on both rigor as well as the complex realities of training and analytic practice. Adherence to a set of national standards, in our opinion, ensures a reliable and sound educational program for consumers and future trainees alike.
AAPE is a standards body that builds on decades of experience and the knowledge of hundreds of educator colleagues. Responsible evolution of standards is a goal of AAPE. In a regulatory landscape that is often rigorous, AAPE’s intention is to bring together the best in our traditions and the best in our aspirations. Just as the frame of clinical psychoanalysis is both strong as well as flexible depending on the context, so too we think educational standards ought to be. We don’t think it is conceptually possible to be flexible without first building a solid framework, which is why AAPE will begin with existing APsaA standards.
In this time of great change, we invite members to familiarize themselves with the DPE and offer their expertise in building the DPE. Similarly we invite members to familiarize themselves with the AAPE and its philosophy of standards, and the benefits of external standards and accreditation. Together, we believe each member and institute can meet their desired needs, and colleagues with diverse opinions on standards and accreditation can live with a degree of harmony.