Courses_
Overview
Learn to help people improve their performance with a Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology. Providing a solid grounding in theory and practice, this unique course will give you the skills to enhance productivity and quality of life of individuals, organisations and the broader community.
The Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology teaches the applied science of human performance enhancement and coaching. This unique one-year course is a rare opportunity to be part of the fast growing and relatively new field of coaching psychology, which seeks to enhance human performance in work, relationships and life in general.
Coaching psychology is an applied positive psychology course and sits at the intersection of counselling, clinical and organisational psychology. This program provides you with a sound grounding in the theoretical and methodological aspects of coaching psychology and teaches fundamental applied coaching skills.
Our main focus is on coaching in business and organisational settings. The program aims to give you the knowledge to be a skilled coach, capable of coaching in an extensive variety of settings and with a wide range of clients including executive, management and personal coaching.
The Coaching Psychology program comprises the Master course, which offers the full range of subjects, and the Diploma and Certificate courses, which allow students to enrol in a subset of these units.
The Coaching Psychology program at the University of Sydney is one of the few postgraduate qualifications worldwide in coaching psychology. The Coaching Psychology Unit at Sydney is recognised as a world leader in the development of both coaching theory and its real world application. Ensuring students receive the best available training, coaching psychology is taught by practising coaching psychologists, and training and management consultants, all of whom have extensive experience in their specialised fields and many of whom have international reputations. The programs offer leading edge training in the theory and practice of coaching.
Subject areas
Shared pool
Your entry requirements
English language proficiency
Find out if you need to prove English language proficiency (depends on your country of origin and educational background).
For academic requirements check the ‘Admission requirements’ section on this page.
Your fee
How to apply
You can apply online via the application portal. When you are ready to apply, select the ‘Apply’ button on this course page. Visit the How to apply page for other important information.
Please note you must supply supporting documentation with your application in order for your application to be considered, including:
- Official transcripts of all previous tertiary study;
- CV or resume;
- A short cover letter (500 to 1000 words) outlining your prior coaching and business experience, your interest in the program and your overall goals on graduation; and
- The names of up to 3 referees.
You need to scan, upload and attach this supporting documentation to your application. To help the assessment process, we request that you upload no more than 4 attachments to your application. If you wish to submit more than 4 documents for consideration, please consolidate all documents into 1 attachment. All transcripts should be consolidated into 1 attachment. Please note that admission into this course is only available for Semester 1 intakes. Admission into Semester 2 intakes is not available.
Closing dates
Semester 1 - 30 November of the preceding year
We strongly encourage applicants to apply as early as possible, offers are made on a rolling basis and places are limited. Separate scholarship deadlines apply - check the scholarships website for details.
Starting date
Semester 1 (February)
You can apply online via the application portal. When you are ready to apply, select the ‘Apply’ button on this course page. Visit the How to apply page for other important information.
Please note you must supply supporting documentation with your application in order for your application to be considered, including:
- Official transcripts of all previous tertiary study;
- CV or resume;
- A short cover letter (500 to 1000 words) outlining your prior coaching and business experience, your interest in the program and your overall goals on graduation; and
- The names of up to 3 referees; and
- Evidence to demonstrate satisfaction of English language requirements.
You need to scan, upload and attach this supporting documentation to your application. To help the assessment process, we request that you upload no more than 5 attachments to your application. If you wish to submit more than 5 documents for consideration, please consolidate all documents into 1 attachment. All transcripts should be consolidated into 1 attachment. Please note that admission into this course is only available for Semester 1 intakes. Admission into Semester 2 intakes is not available.
Closing dates
Semester 1 - 30 November of the preceding year
We strongly encourage international applicants to apply as early as possible to allow time for visa and travel arrangements. Separate scholarship deadlines may apply - check the scholarships website for details.
Starting date
Semester 1 (February)
What you'll study
Candidates for the Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology complete a total of 36 credit points made up of three core units of study (18cp) and three elective units of study. The course may be completed on a full time or part time basis. Full time study can normally be completed over the course of 2 semesters, with 3 units taken per semester. Your individual study plan will depend on the availability of units in a given semester.
View the Coaching Psychology Unit timetable.
Please note this timetable is indicative only.
Degree sample: Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology
Year |
Sem |
Unit of study |
Unit of study |
Unit of study |
|
1 |
1 |
PSYC4721 Theories and Techniques of Coaching Psych (Core) |
PSYC4722 Fundamentals of Coaching Practice (Core) |
PSYC4730 Applied Positive Psychology |
|
|
2 |
PSYC4724 Coaching Practice (Core) |
PSYC4729 Groups, Teams and Systems |
PSYC4723 Socio-Cognitive Issues in Coaching Psych |
|
Timetable
View the Coaching Psychology Unit timetable.
Please note this timetable is indicative only.
Admission requirement
Our students are typically mid-career professionals with some coaching experience and prior coach training of some sort. A section of our students are professional coaches seeking to extend their practice and gain a thorough grounding in the psychology of coaching. Another section of our students are managers from a wide range of professions and industry sectors who have used coaching skills in the workplace and have undertaken ‘manager as coach’ training and leadership development programs. We also have a number of human resource and organisational development professionals in the program who typically have been involved in organising or delivering coaching in the workplace.
For admission into this course, you should have either:
- (a) a three-year Psychology degree; or
- (b) a three-year degree in a cognate discipline with a major in areas such as (but not limited to) arts, humanities, business, science or law.
You should also have at least three years relevant employment experience.
As entry into this course is competitive, applicants who meet the admission requirements are then ranked according to academic merit and coaching experience. Course numbers are limited and offers will be made to applicants on the basis of rank, subject to a strict enrolment quota. Top-ranked applicants will be made early rolling offers prior to the year of commencement. For all other applicants, the first offer round occurs in mid to late January in the year of commencement. The second and subsequent offer rounds occur throughout February in the year of commencement.
If you do not meet the requirements for admission into the Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology may wish to consider applying for entry into the Graduate Certificate in Coaching Psychology.
As part of the embedded program, upon successful completion of the Graduate Certificate in Coaching Psychology, you may gain entry to the Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology through an internal “upgrade”. In turn, upon successful completion of the Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology, you may gain entry to the Master of Science in Coaching Psychology through an internal “upgrade”.
There are no Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) available in the Graduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology. However, a very limited number of CSP may be available to domestic applicants for the Master of Science in Coaching Psychology from year to year.
The academic requirements that are displayed are applicable to currently available courses only, and are updated annually in October and may be changed without notice. The Handbooks Online and the University of Sydney Calendar are the official legal source of information relating to study at the University of Sydney, and you are referred to those documents.
Career Pathways
After graduating, you could expect to gain employment in a range of jobs involving:
- human resource development
- private practice
- organisational consultancy
- professional services.
Resources
Publications for Coaching
- The Coaching Psychologist & International Coaching Psychology Review
- The International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching & Mentoring
- Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice
- The Journal of Positive Psychology
- Coaching At Work
Links to other Coaching Psychology Units
The Coaching Psychology Unit
The staff in the Coaching Psychology Unit come from a wide range of academic and business backgrounds.
The core staff are:
- Dr Sean O'Connor - Director, Coaching Psychology Unit
- Dr Michael J. Cavanagh - Deputy Director, Coaching Psychology Unit
Domestic students
International students
