Redesigning the psychology higher education pathway

The usual pathway to becoming a psychologist today is five years of study plus a one-year supervised internship, known as the 5+1. It finishes at Masters level, which is level 9 on the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

The Psychology Board of Australia proposed replacing it with a single five-year qualification at AQF level 8, the level of an Honours degree. The supervised internship year, the national psychology exam and provisional registration would go. The proposal also includes a new psychology assistant role.

The changes are meant to help grow the psychology workforce, which is well short of what Australia needs.

We support a single pathway. We opposed the design as drafted.

• Keep the standard at Masters level. Dropping to AQF 8 would lower the qualification of a profession that diagnoses conditions and assesses suicide risk. Other health professions, like medicine and pharmacy, have moved up, not down.
• Replace the internship properly. If the internship year goes, new psychologists should complete a 12-month program run by an external body, with supervision in the workplace. The external body, not the workplace, should sign off that they are ready.
• Keep a national exam. A national knowledge exam gives every new psychologist the same minimum standard.
• Take the assistant role out for now. Its scope is still unclear, so it should be worked through as separate policy work.
• Grow the workforce another way. We suggested six options: paid clinical placements, properly funded university places, scholarships in return for working in shortage areas, funded supervision, support for culturally diverse and First Nations students, and faster recognition of psychologists trained overseas.