SCCP Doctor of Philosophy Course Requirements

The School & Clincial Child Psychology Program comprises ten half-courses, including a doctoral practicum course and 1600 hour internship. In addition, a doctoral thesis and a comprehensive examination are required.

PhD Program Statistics 

Recommended Program Timetables
Year One: Courses, planning for thesis
Year Two: Courses, practicum, completion of comprehensive, thesis committee formation, write thesis proposal
Year Three: Thesis proposal approval, data collection, analysis and write thesis
Year Four: Oral defence and full-time internship

NOTE: Doctoral students who did not complete their MA in SCCP may have several additional courses added to their program. For those students, the timelines for thesis work may be delayed for up to a year.

Required Courses
APD3222Y Approaches to Psychotherapy Across The Life Span
APD3240H Advanced Social and Emotional Assessment Techniques
APD3242Y Internship in School and Clinical Child Psychology
APD3241H Seminar and Practicum in Assessment and Intervention with Children (Recommended in the second year of the program)

Required Courses in Specific Areas
Courses marked with a * involve a supervised clinical component which may include working directly with clients in the OISE/UT Psychoeducational clinic (or other approved setting) or providing clinical training to parents or teachers of children with various forms of psychopathology. All *  courses involve admission by permission of the instructor.

Psychosocial Interventions (select one)
APD3224H* Advanced Proactive Behavioural and Cognitive-Behavioural Interventions
APD3255H Systemic Family Therapy
APD3231H Psychodynamic Bases of Therapy

Instructional Interventions (select one)
APD3238Y*Assessment and Programming for Reading and Writing Difficulties (Special Topics Course)
APD5284Y*Assessment and Intervention in Multicultural/Bilingual Contexts

Social Bases of Behaviour (select one)
APD3205H Social and Moral Development
APD3221H Cross-cultural Perspectives on Children’s Problems
APD3225H Developmental Trajectories and High Risk Environments

Biological Bases of Behaviour (select one)
APD3286H Developmental Neurobiology
APD3297H Biological and Psychological Foundations of Low Incidence Disorders

Statistics (select one)
The statistics requirement is normally met in the MA program. Nevertheless, students are encouraged to take additional research courses that will facilitate completion of their doctoral research. The following are suggested:

APD1289H Multivariate Analysis with Applications
APD1238H Causal Inference Theories and Methods (Special Topics)
APD1293H Applied Research Design and Data Analysis [RM]
APD3201H Qualitative Research Methods in Applied Psychology & Human Development [RM]
CHL5222H Longitudinal Data Analysis (Offered through the Dept. of Community Health)
CTL1306H La recherche qualitative en éducation: bases théoriques et pratiques
CTL2803H Models and Issues in Program Evaluation
CTL4802H Doctoral Seminar in Qualitative Research on Teaching
JCT2800H Advanced Proseminar in Educational Evaluation, Measurement and Policy Analysis
SES1905H Qualitative Approaches to Sociological Research in Education
SOC6707H Advanced Data Analysis I

Additional Requirements
APD1201 Child and Adolescent Development: Students who have not taken a child development course at the undergraduate or graduate level, must take APD1201 as an extra course (above the 10 half-course requirement).

APD3204 Contemporary History and Systems in Human Development and Applied Psychology: Students who have not had a course on history and systems of psychology at the advanced undergraduate or graduate level must take APD3204 as an extra course (above the 10 half-course requirement).

Doctoral students admitted without the SCCP MA must take all courses required in the SCCP MA program unless they can demonstrate equivalency in the form of comparable graduate courses or relevant supervised experience. Consult your faculty advisor for more information.

These requirements are normally stipulated on the letter of admission. Consult your faculty advisor if you believe you should be exempted from this requirement. Exemption from any of these additional requirements is at the sole discretion of the program.

Ph.D. Practicum
The PhD practicum placement is administered through the required doctoral course APD3241 (Seminar and Practicum in Assessment and Intervention with Children). This practicum course is typically taken in the second year of the PhD.

The PhD practicum consists of a two day per week placement, typically in a clinic setting, as well as seminar meetings on alternate weeks. Doctoral practicum students must complete at least 500 hours in their placement setting. Students receive a minimum of 2 hours per week of supervision from the setting supervisor. It is expected that approximately 25% of that time will be in direct client contact.

Finding a PhD Practicum Placement
Many placements prefer students who already have some applied experience. To get an understanding of the placement options that are available, registered students attend the annual Placement Representative Meeting. At this meeting, representatives from clinical practicum and internship settings describe their placements and meet with interested students.

Additional Practicum
Some students may wish to gain additional practicum experience prior to undertaking their internship through an additional practicum placement. This may involve an out-of-pocket expense for the student equal to the amount of the honorarium payment to the supervisor.

Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination
The purpose of the comprehensive examination is twofold:

• To ensure an adequate level of psychological knowledge for professional functioning as a practitioner, academic, and/or researcher;
• To demonstrate an ability to integrate information at the accepted standard for a doctoral student

Students are expected to complete the comprehensive examination by the end of their residency period. Normally the examination is taken before commencing thesis data collection. Students must have passed the comprehensive examination prior to beginning an internship.

The examination is a take-home format. Students have one week to write the examination and submit their answers. The SCCP Comprehensive Examination Committee is responsible for setting the examination and will select 8 questions representing 4 core areas.

Questions will be set in 4 core areas:

1. Development / psychopathology (1 research question and 1 clinical question)
2. Assessment (1 research question and 1 clinical question)
3. Intervention (1 research question and 1 clinical question)
4. Ethics (2 clinical questions)

Ph.D. Thesis
Normally, there are eight major steps to completing a thesis:

1. Review of OISE/UT Guidelines for Theses and Orals
2. Establishment of a thesis topic
3. Selection of a thesis supervisor (normally the student’s faculty advisor)
4. Formation of a thesis committee
5. Ethical review, if required
6. Thesis proposal approval
7. Thesis work
8. Final thesis approval and submission

When preparing a thesis, a student works in consultation with his/her thesis supervisor until a committee is formed and, after that, with his/her thesis committee. The PhD thesis committee should be formed by the end of the second year.

A thesis in a PhD program is examined by the student’s thesis committee through the oral examination process. The thesis committee normally comprises three faculty members, with the thesis supervisor holding a Full appointment to the School of Graduate Studies and at least one member from AP&HD.

Ph.D. Oral Examination
Once a student’s thesis is in its final form and has been approved by the thesis committee, the final oral examination is scheduled. A student defends his/her thesis at an examination conducted by a Final Oral Examination Committee. It is this exam that will determine whether or not a student may be recommended for his/her degree.

Ph.D. Internship
This requirement is administered through course APD3242. The internship occurs at the end of the program, once all other course requirements have been met.

The dissertation should be either completed or well underway before the internship starts. Students may defend their dissertation prior to the commencement of their internship placement or during the period of their placement. Completing the dissertation prior to beginning the internship is recommended.

Prior to applying for their internship, students must have:

• completed their course work
• passed the comprehensive examination
• received approval for their thesis proposal from their thesis committee

Finding an Internship Placement
Students are expected to enter the APPIC match process and apply for APA/CPA accredited placements. Because there are only a few APA/CPA accredited internships in the Greater Toronto Area, students should expect to travel outside of Toronto for their internships (e.g., London, Hamilton, Ottawa) or even outside of Ontario (e.g., other provinces or the United States).

The APPIC application process starts at: www.APPIC.ORG

Professional Licensure as a Psychologist:
The College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO)
Students whose plans include preparation for professional practice in psychology should note that the practice of psychology in the province of Ontario is regulated under the Statute Law of Ontario. Graduation from a doctoral program or from any graduate program in psychology does not, in itself, qualify a person to practice as a psychologist. The CPO regulates professional practice of psychology in Ontario and examines candidates for registration as psychologists. The SCCP PhD is designed to meet the academic requirements for registration as a psychologist. At the discretion of the College, courses other than those required by the program may be required for certification.

For more information contact:

The Registrar,
College of Psychologists of Ontario
Suite 201, 1246 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W5
(Tel.) 416-961-8817
(Fax.) 416-961-2635
(e-mail) cpo@cpo.on.ca