Mutual Recognition of Professional Association Credentials (MRA)
Requirements for current Certified Practising Speech Pathology Australia Members
On 20 November 2008 Speech Pathology Australia was signatory to the Mutual Recognition of Professional Association Credentials Agreement. The agreement includes not only the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), The Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (CASLPA), The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and Speech Pathology Australia, but also the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT) and the New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists’ Association (NZSTA). This new Agreement comes into force on 1 January 2009.
The Agreement is not one of reciprocity or reciprocal recognition of qualifications. The Agreement is of mutual recognition that, under some conditions, the six associations have substantially equivalent credentials and that it is therefore possible for certified or full members of one association to become recognised by the other associations. The Agreement does not ensure migration to any of the other countries as all conditions for migration have to be met nor does it ensure employment in the country which the speech pathologist may wish to visit. However, it provides the possibility of professional recognition of the speech pathologist by the Associations signatory to the Agreement.
ASHA
MRA applicants from the Associations specified below to provide the following:
1. Applicable members of IASLT, NZSTA, RCSLT, and Speech Pathology Australia: Evidence of passing the ASHA-approved national certification examination.
2. Applicable members of CASLPA who have less than one year of postgraduate professional clinical experience: Completion of a Clinical Fellowship (CF) or documented evidence of a minimum of 1,260 post-graduate hours of clinical experience (the equivalent of 36 weeks of professional employment as a speech-language pathologist at 35 hours per week) supervised by an individual who is ASHA-certified or who is a CASLPA Certified Speech-Language Pathologist. During this clinical experience, these applicants will need to demonstrate successful achievement of the skills identified in the current Clinical Fellowship Skills Inventory instrument.
Website Link : http://www.asha.org/
CASLPA
MRA applicants from the Associations specified below to provide the following:
1. Applicable members of IASLT, NZSTA, RCSLT and Speech Pathology Australia: Evidence of passing the CASLPA clinical certification examination.
2. Applicable members of ASHA, IASLT, NZSTA, RCSLT and Speech Pathology Australia: Documented evidence of prescribed clinical practicum hours and university transcripts indicating date of conferred degree.
3. Applicable members of ASHA, IASLT, NZSTA, RCSLT and Speech Pathology Australia: Evidence of education and supervised practicum experience in assessment and treatment in audiology/hearing science according to current CASLPA standards.
Website Link: http://www.caslpa.ca/
IASLT
MRA applicants from the Associations specified below to provide the following:
1. Applicable members of CASLPA: documented evidence of having completed at least one year of clinical practice as a speech and language therapist. A year of clinical practice is defined as a calendar year of continuous employment in clinical practice, with a minimum of 1000 hours in that year.
2. applicable members of ASHA and CASLPA: Evidence of recency of practice – 1000 hours of clinical practice, and/or conducting clinical research or college/university teaching within the previous five years.
Website Link: http://www.iaslt.ie/
NZSTA
MRA applicants from the Associations specified below to provide the:
1. Applicable members of CASLPA and Speech Pathology Australia documented evidence of having completed a year of supervised clinical speech-language therapy practice in the country of certification. Clinical practice is defined as no less than 36 weeks of full time clinical practice of at least 30 hours per week paid employment. Employment as an administrator, educator, researcher or any combination of these is not sufficient for the initial year of clinical practice in the country of certification.
2. Applicable members of ASHA and CASLPA: Evidence of recency of practice – 1000 hours of speech-language therapy practice within the previous five (5) years. Speech-language therapy practice is defined as: being engaged in the activities of speech-language therapy as a practitioner, administrator, educator, researcher or any combination of these and receiving remuneration for those activities.
3. Applicable members of IASLT and RCSLT, ASHA certificate holders who graduated with a master’s degree in speech-language pathology prior to 1998, and certified members of CASLPA who have been clinically certified prior to 1999: Demonstrated competency in dysphagia assessment, diagnosis and management, either through evidence of specific courses passed or prior experience.
Website Link : http://www.speechtherapy.org.nz/
RCSLT
MRA applicants from the Associations specified below to provide the following:
1. Applicable members of CASLPA and Speech Pathology Australia: Documented evidence of having completed a year of clinical practice as a speech and language therapist in the country of certification. A year of clinical practice is defined as a calendar year of continuous employment as a speech and language therapist in the country of certification with a minimum of 18 hours per week. Employment as an administrator, researcher or educator will not satisfy this requirement.
2. Applicable members of ASHA and CASLPA: Evidence of recency of practice - 1000 hours of speech and language therapy practice within the previous five (5) years. Speech and language therapy practice is defined as being engaged in the activities of speech and language therapy as a practitioner, speech and language therapy or allied health administrator, educator, researcher or any combination of these and receiving remuneration for those activities.
3. Applicable members of ASHA, CASLPA, NZSTA and Speech Pathology Australia: Evidence of satisfactory completion of the initial year of monitored practice in the UK is required for on-going certification.
Website Link: http://www.rcslt.org/