Choosing the Self-Assessment Pathway to become a BSP
Rebecca Kim
Introduction
So you’re thinking of becoming a PBS Practitioner and want to get registered with the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission - Wonderful!
You might’ve read through their webpage on Applying to become a NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner and you’ve seen the two pathways. You’ve got some prior experience in very similar work, perhaps you’ve written Positive Behaviour Support Plans (PBSPs) within a hospital or school setting, so you’re considering the Self-Assessment Pathway.
Who Should Take the Self-Assessment Pathway?
This question has been something I’ve developed my understanding of over the last few years. It’s included ups and downs alongside my Supervisees who’ve chosen this pathway and then experienced push back and requests for specific evidence.
Overall, this is the pathway for you if you believe you can evidence that you have relevant experience across at least all 7 of the Core level capability domains. Ideally, this is experience within the last 5 years (except for qualifications). As a note, this pathway is also considered more appropriate for a previous PBS Practitioner to take.
Quite broadly, the 7 Core domains cover your knowledge and skills in:
Assessing and mitigating risk through quick intervention
Undertaking functional behaviour assessments, data analysis, and more to determine the underlying function/s (reason/s for the behaviour to occur)
Preparing accessible, evidence-based, and person-centered PBSPs, or very similar
Using a range of methods to effectively implement your PBSPs with your identified implementers
Knowing how to check whether your strategies are working and knowing how to do reviews and amend your strategies when needed
Understanding the legislation around restrictive practice and how and when it should be used as a last resort
Ensuring you’re committed to making Supervision and your continuing professional development effective and documented
If you read through the above, or the Self-Assessment Tool directly, and know you have multiple pieces of relevant evidence on hand that will definitely cover each domain, then you might be able to take the Self-Assessment pathway aiming to prove your abilities at the Core level.
If You Haven’t Already, Get a Supervisor on Board
This is when we go back to one of our earlier articles that discussed seeking Supervision if you want to become a PBS Practitioner.
You must have a Supervisor who you’ve engaged services with and who is willing to review your evidence portfolio and Self-Assessment Tool with the goal of completing an Endorsement Tool. An Endorsement Tool is something we haven’t mentioned in any of our earlier articles; it’s the document where you and your Supervisor state which PBS Capability Framework level you’ve achieved. The template for this is kept within the Self-Assessment Resource Guide from the Commission’s website. Shortly, I’ll also be preparing a blank template for our website’s free resources.
You might find some Supervisors have a time frame that you must meet before they will complete the Endorsement Tool with you, so make sure you’re open about your goal to avoid disappointment. I’ve personally seen times of 3 to 6 months before this can happen. The reasoning behind this - I’m generalising here - is that the Supervisor doesn’t want to make an incorrect assessment due to the short amount of time they have to understand your existing skills and knowledge. So it’s important to make a connection and start sessions as early as you can to prove your capabilities.
Review and Complete the Self-Assessment Tool
When you have a Supervisor on board who’s willing to review your portfolio, it’s time to complete the Self-Assessment Tool.
As a guide:
If you’re targeting the Core level capabilities then you only need to do that section; stop once you see the headings change to Proficient.
If you want to target Proficient, you’ll need to complete both Core and Proficient.
If you want to target Advanced, you’ll need to complete Core, Proficient, and Advanced.
If you want to target Specialist, you’ll need to complete Core, Proficient, and Specialist.
I recommend going through each section of the level/s you need, and honestly considering whether you have the knowledge and/or skill it’s asking for. Plus, the relevant evidence to prove it. Keep in mind this must be evidence you can show to your Supervisor for review, and possibly to the Commission if they were ever to request it. Go through each of the domains and check the boxes. You must be either ‘Met’ or ‘Developing’ each of the capabilities as any ‘Not Met’ means you can’t be considered that level (which should trigger a reflection point on whether the New Entry Level pathway might be more suited).
Once you’ve done that, you need to detail the evidence you have against the domain in the ‘Sources of Evidence’ section. Even though it only has a few spaces, I recommend adding more and having at least 5-6 strong pieces of evidence applicable to that domain, with a firm connection detailed around why the evidence is relevant. In our Member’s Site, we have free additional downloads for each of the level’s capabilities where I’ve already added more spaces in. Please feel free to use if it’ll be helpful.
Be mindful that the higher up the Framework you target, the stronger and more robust your evidence portfolio will need to be for your Supervisor (and the Commission). In my experience, the Commission will usually want to see that you have written, at minimum, Functional Behaviour Assessments (FBA) and PBSPs. These documents in your evidence might be called something slightly different, but the underlying purpose of the document should be the same. For a FBA, this document should analyse risks of harm / behaviours of concern and use data or other evidence to hypothesise the underlying functions of your participant’s behaviour. The PBSP should involve clear goals and strategies, including proactive (daily avoidance of triggers and increase of quality of life / regulation) and reactive (what to do when your participant becomes dysregulated). The Commission might also request evidence of assessments completed and analysed, training delivered, and other key steps within the PBS process. More of these are listed in our ‘What’s it like to be a BSP?’ article.
Send Your Self-Assessment Tool to your Supervisor
Once you’ve finished marking and completing all of the capabilities you need, you must provide your de-identified evidence portfolio and the Tool to your Supervisor to review. They may provide feedback in support or against your chosen level, or request additional information / evidence from you. They will help guide you during this time to an outcome about whether you can be signed off on any levels within the PBS Capability Framework.
Negative Outcome
If you and your Supervisor come to the agreement that you’re not quite there - it may feel disappointing, but you’ll have opportunity in the future to reach these. Especially if you’ve asked your Supervisor to help you with an action plan to finish meeting the outstanding capabilities. As a note, this will be exactly what you need to do next as you’re likely going to need to pivot to the New Entry Level pathway. All the steps for that pathway are detailed in an earlier article, so head over there and we’ll take you through the last steps!
Positive Outcome
Fantastic! - the second biggest hurdle has been overcome and it’s time to gather your remaining documents such as Supervision Agreement, Professional Development Plan (most likely to finish the remaining competencies within your assessed level or your plan to tackle the next one), current resume, and certified qualifications to submit your application on the Applications Portal. Make sure you’ve got your MyID and your portal access for the Commission all ready to go for when you want to submit as it can take a little bit to set up.
Submitting Your Application
Make sure you have everything Pdf’d and either electronically or hand signed to avoid the common delays in applications. Then log into the Applications Portal and answer all the questions and attach all your documents, including your signed Endorsement Tool. You’ll need to select ‘Self-Assessment’ pathway and spend quite a bit of time going through each of the capabilities and selecting the response you need. Double check before you save - one wrong selection as ‘Not Met’ might cause an issue. You also need to write in your evidence list for each section before you move on.
After you’ve gone through all the tedious work and double checked it all, you’re ready to submit! You can expect that since you’re taking the Self-Assessment pathway, the Commission will need to spend more time reviewing your application and checking your evidence, so the typical 4-6 week wait might be a little longer . Make sure to check in regularly as sometimes there’s no email to notify you of a change in your application, and don’t panic if they come back to you and ask for more evidence - this is common and they’ll usually be specific about what they need which can be easier to respond to (this is the biggest hurdle for this pathway).
Worst case scenario, which I’ve seen before, is that they won’t be able to approve you through the Self-Assessment pathway. In this case, you already have nearly everything you need to go through the New Entry Level pathway instead. If this happens to you, please don’t lose hope and give up, we need good practitioners in this field and you’ve obviously come with knowledge and experience that we need or else your Supervisor wouldn’t have signed it off. It will be a pain, but it won’t take long to submit under the other pathway instead.
Conclusion
Overall, the Self-Assessment pathway takes quite a bit more effort than the New Entry Level pathway; it also usually takes much longer to prepare, submit, and receive a response. However, it can come with its own benefits such as starting at a higher level, being able to sign off on restrictive practice (Proficient or above), and almost ‘speed running’ some of the PBS Capability Framework by getting recognition of your previous work.
My experience of this pathway is all detailed above and I’d say, overall, it’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s still an equally valid pathway that might be the right one for you. Let us know if we can help you with your registration application and support you through this process together.
