From time to time, we all fancy ourselves at being expert in how other people think, feel and behave. Human behaviour has fascinated people for years and the quest to know more about what makes people tick leads many to consider studying psychology. Undergraduate psychology courses are amongst the most popular university courses chosen by high school graduates as well as mature age students every year.
The pathway to becoming a registered psychologist in Australia is long and windy. There are a number of challenges or obstacles and there are various key players or gate keepers that are involved.
The pathway starts with entry into an undergraduate psychology course. The gate keepers at this level are, of course, the university or institution of higher education that determine the entry level for their courses. Also, there is another very important key player that is often invisible but strikes a powerful influence, APAC – The Australian Psychology Accreditation Council Limited. APAC have the power (and responsibility) under Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 to make sure that courses offered are up to standard and produce graduates with the knowledge, skills and ethics necessary for practice. Most APAC-approved courses need to offer certain key subject usually across three full time years of study and they need to do so to a certain standard, or APAC will withdraw approval and those on the path may need to go back to the beginning and start again in another approved undergraduate psychology course.
If you are interested in studying psychology and may want to be a psychologist one day, you need to ask whether the course you are interested in is APAC accredited.
Once you have completed an undergraduate course in psychology, you reach a fork in the pathway. You can decide to leave the road towards becoming a registered psychologist and enjoy the knowledge that you have gained, or enjoy joking with people at parties who think that you can read minds (or who just plain avoid you because they think you can read minds) or you may decide that you would like to work in one of the many areas that employ people with an undergraduate psychology degree – welfare, child protection, case management, justice or the like.
If you chose to proceed along the pathway towards becoming a psychologist, you will need to enter an APAC approved fourth year. Sometimes this is an honours year or it may be an APAC approved graduate diploma. To gain entry into a fourth year, you will need to have done well in your undergraduate studies.
The number of places offered in fourth year courses and beyond is much, much smaller than the intake numbers for undergraduate course. So, clearly, if you are following the pathway to become a registered psychologist, you may not make it if you are looking forward to your university years as mega-party, low-responsibility-type years.
Once you are through the fourth year, there are a number of options at the pathway fork.
If you want to continue even further on the pathway you may want to be endorsed in certain areas of psychology (Clinical Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, Counselling Psychology, Organisational Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Community Psychology, Sports Psychology, Education and Developmental Psychology, and Health Psychology), then you need to have completed the appropriate post graduate course and then seek a further period of supervision that is approved by the PBA. You need to have a supervisor who is endorsed in the area in which you are seeking endorsement and then, on completion, you can apply to the PBA for an endorsement on your registration.
Wait! Before you embark on the start of the pathway, you also should know that the effort does not end in registration with the PBA. Once you have negotiated the pathway and followed it to its end, the journey does not stop there.
Psychologists are required to continue to keep their knowledge and skills up to date and their practice above board. As a profession, psychologists are mandated to continue to develop themselves professionally, including spending time consulting with peers about their client work and self care. The PBA does random audits on psychologists to check for this and members of the public can also ask the PBA to investigate a psychologist if they think the psychologist has acted unprofessionally.
Also, before you embark on the pathway to being a psychologist, perhaps have a think about the type of person you are.
Consider:
Another important player, off to the side of the registration pathway, but working hard to influence and support psychology as a discipline, is the Australian Psychological Society (APS). Psychologists do not need to belong to the APS to practice psychology, but the APS does have entry requirements. The APS is a professional body that works to advance psychology as a discipline. The APS promotes psychology and provides psychologists with advocacy, training and support. The APS website contains some useful information for students.
Not many years ago, in some states and territories in Australia, the practice of psychology went unregulated. Anybody could call themselves a psychologist.
Currently, the profession of psychology in Australia has psychologists who were registered under the new system and still many that were registered when things were much “looser”. This means that we currently have a really heterogeneous group of people in the profession, but it is clear that there is no room for sloppiness. If you want to be a psychologist in Australia, you need to be committed to continuing to seek knowledge, revise skills and practice ethically.
So, if you do want to be a psychologist, you can sure that Psychology is an amazingly interesting and rewarding discipline. The work that psychologists do is very important and often with very fragile people or communities. People need to be able to put their utmost faith in their psychologist so it’s important that psychologists are able to meet the rigorous requirement for knowledge, skills and ethical practice. It’s a long closely regulated path, but it jolly well should be!
Best wishes for safe and fulfilling adventures to those who chose to take the important pathway.
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