Education training and reform

Education training and reform are an important focus of the Psychology Board in its work regulating the psychology profession in Australia. Through its approval of accredited programs of study, the Board has a major role in ensuring the provision of high-quality education and training of psychologists across all sectors, to facilitate a flexible, responsive and sustainable Australian psychology workforce.

The Board’s first area of reform (Phase one) focused on reducing the regulatory burden and complexity of psychology training by retiring the 4+2 internship program as a pathway to general registration. Detailed information on the retirement of the 4+2 internship program can be found at: Retirement of the 4+2 internship program.

In 2019, the Board started a second area of reform (Phase two) – a comprehensive review of the existing professional competencies for psychologists in Australia. The competencies for general registration are being reviewed first because these are the core competencies relevant to all psychologists. The area of practice endorsement competencies will be reviewed next. 

The general registration competencies were last reviewed in 2010. It is time to update them to ensure the competencies maintain their relevance as the threshold required for safe and effective contemporary psychology practice in Australia. The Board is conducting wide-range public consultation on updating the general registration competencies in 2023.

The Board is committed to ensuring that both general and endorsed psychologists can demonstrate the professional competencies to ensure safe, responsive, accessible, and effective practice. The regulation of psychologists needs to be responsive to client and industry needs. Clients should be able to easily find and access psychologists who have expertise that matches their needs, and psychologists need to have clear ways to explain to their clients the services they can provide. We need to help the community and the profession to better understand the competencies of a general psychologist and the meaning and purpose of area of practice endorsement.

Further information

Information and progress on the Education training and reform (ETR - Phase Two) program of work is noted below.

Communiques

The Board has appointed a Psychology Expert Reference Group (PERG) to advise us on the review of the competencies for general registration. This work forms the first step in the education training and reform program of work. The PERG has published communiques on the progression of its work.