Redesigning the higher education pathway

The Psychology Board of Australia (the Board) under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) have been asked by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (the Department) to provide recommendations for redesigning the training pathway for psychology.

To become eligible for general registration, applicants are required to complete a six-year sequence of education and training. This typically includes a four-year Board-approved accredited sequence of study in psychology followed by a further two years of Board approved education and training undertaken while registered as a provisional psychologist. Fourth-year graduates can choose from the following training pathways:

• the higher degree pathway, which is an approved postgraduate degree accredited at the fifth and sixth year level (such as a two-year Masters) or higher (such as a three or four year Doctorate), or
• the 5+1 internship pathway.

The purpose of the project is to provide recommendations to the Department for a redesign of the psychology higher education pathway.  

This project aims to consider the appropriateness and proposed design of a single, shorter and more practical course of study to qualify as a registered psychologist in Australia, beginning in the undergraduate years.  

The project will include: 

• Good governance - Developing a project steering committee to direct and oversee the project
• Options based on evidence - Research and development of appropriate redesign options for a training pathway appropriate in the Australian regulatory and workforce context
• Working together - Consultation and engagement with stakeholders to stimulate discussion and provide feedback into the proposals, and
• Clear recommendations - Providing recommendations for the Department for considering future policy decisions and course of actions.

To achieve the project objectives, the work will involve three streams: 

1. Understanding the current training context and levers for change
2. Exploring redesign options that support safe and effective professional practice and workforce, and
3. Consultation and recommendations.

In scope

The project scope covers the development of recommendations to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (the Department) of the redesign of the higher degree training pathway for psychology. In line with the contract for services, the Board is required to consider options for redesign of the psychology training pipeline that:

• Considers the appropriateness and proposed design of a single, shorter and more practical course of study to qualify as a registered psychologist in Australia
• Includes the six-year training sequence, including both undergraduate and post-graduate programs and the effect any recommendations will have on area of practice endorsement training
• Embeds a focus on practical learning to improve professional training, support increased enrolments and completion of study, with the aim to strengthen the registered psychology workforce
• Considers the level of competency attainment and workforce potential of psychology students who do not complete the full training pathway, such as a psychology assistant workforce, and
• Standardises training pathways to address equity and access challenges for those seeking to attain general registration, including overall program monitoring and data collection.

The Board will ensure that the options for redesign:

• Prioritise the community and the future workforce
• Align with Australian accreditation and regulation requirements
• Maintain high standards and quality of training while considering options for a shorter and more practical course of study
• Find solutions to the problems that we all know exist in our current system
• Leverage the solutions that Higher Education Providers are already doing

Our of scope

The project scope does not include:

• Implementing the redesign recommendations. This project will deliver options for redesign of the higher degree training pathway only.
• Addressing the availability of psychology units of study for students seeking a career outside of psychology registration. The project is not concerned with the:
  
  
  
  • Higher degree research pathway in psychology (e.g. PhD)
  • Completion/availability of psychology subjects for student’s studying other degrees (e.g. education, allied health, business degrees)

While the redesign options will consider any effects that the recommendations for the training pathway for psychologists (i.e. general registration) may have on the training pathways for area of practice endorsement, any reform of area of practice endorsement will require a separate project.

The redesign project aims to address the following six broadly identified issues.

1. Workforce shortages and increasing community need

   The registration data for the psychology profession shows that there are over 50,000 psychologists and provisional psychologists in Australia, with an increase of over 12,000 psychologists since 2019. However, the community need for psychologists is outstripping the growth in the psychology workforce. This project seeks to identify improvements that could be made to the training pipeline for the psychology workforce that could maximise the number of applicants for registration as a psychologist who meet the registration standards and can enter the workforce while maintaining public protection.

2. Psychology training is cumbersome and complex

   A diagram of the complexity of the domestic training pathways is on the PsyBA’s general registration webpage, and information on the large number of accredited programs of study (over 1000) to support the current pathways can be found on the accreditation webpage. This complexity results in regulatory burden for accreditation, education providers, supervisors, trainee psychologists, the Board and Ahpra. This project seeks to simplify the psychology education training pathways to reduce this burden.

3. Bottlenecks in the training pipeline

   While there is overwhelming interest from students in undertaking study that leads to employment as a registered psychologist, there are bottlenecks in the training pipeline with a reported lack of post-graduate places and insufficient placement/internship opportunities. It is recognised that current domestic psychology higher education pathways are not fit for purpose and are contributing to the significant workforce shortages faced by the profession. This project seeks to develop options for removing the bottlenecks in the training pipeline, and improving the training experience for ‘would be’ psychologists.

4. Training pathways and registration categories are misaligned

   The sequence of training in psychology is out of alignment with the registration categories available in the National Law, leading to inefficiencies, complexity, and confusion about training and registration. For example, the higher degree pathway blends training for both general registration and area of practice endorsement, and provisional registration is used for both accredited placements within a degree, and unaccredited internships after degree completion. Unlike other health professions in Australia, there is currently no student registration for psychology. This project seeks to identify ways that psychology training can be better aligned with registration to simplify both training and regulatory burden.

5. Psychology training is out of step with other health professions

   Unlike other health professions, there is no one single, short, practical course of study to qualify as a registered psychologist. The psychology training pathways are not contemporary and are out of step with other health professions. For example, a student undertaking the higher degree pathway is likely to be required to enter and graduate from three degree programs (e.g. Bachelor, Honours, Masters) and to undertake several unaccredited units of study (e.g. arts or science subjects) on their journey to general registration. In psychology training, practicums do not generally start until the fifth year of study. One intended benefit of this project is to provide students with a clearer and more efficient pathway to registration with opportunities to develop practical skills throughout their program of study.

6. Complexity of assessing international qualifications

   Assessing applicants with international qualifications for equivalence to the various domestic training pathways is a complex and time-consuming case-by-case task. Removing the complexity of the domestic pathways to general registration will assist the Board and the accreditation entity to develop a more streamlined assessment framework and process. While the psychology workforce is primarily domestically trained, reducing red tape for internationally trained applicants for registration will support the growth of the psychology workforce. International mobility of psychologists is increasingly important, with a clear movement towards globalised standards. This project aims to pave the way for reforming the assessment of internationally qualified psychologists, which is phase four the Board’s education training and reform program of work.

The Project Steering Committee (PSC) provides strategic governance, oversight and guidance to the redesign project. PSC members include the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (Project executive sponsor), Department of Education (provide funding for psychology training), the Psychology Board of Australia (Project owner), and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra; Project sponsor).

The PSC’s communique's are available below.

• July communique (158 KB,PDF)

To facilitate consultation and engagement throughout the project, a selection of key stakeholders will be invited to participate in one of several project reference groups. The purpose of the reference groups will be to:

• share information about the project
• gain insights and seek advice from stakeholders about the current psychology training context, burden, blockers and levers for change
• explore proposed options for training redesign, and
• work collaboratively towards developing a clear vision for redesign.

Further information about the Project Reference Groups will be published here when available.

In line with the scientist-practitioner model for the psychology profession, all options for redesigning the psychology training pipeline will be based on data, research and evidence. The Board will work with our partners and stakeholders to source relevant information to inform the project options. For example, data will be required for the following:

• Accreditation – e.g. number of program sequences by APAC standard level
• Funding of psychology training – e.g. funding arrangements for undergraduate and post-graduate training pathways
• Registration and regulation – e.g. international models of psychology training and regulation, Australian models for training health professionals
• Training and education – e.g. student enrolment and placement data
• Workforce – e.g. industry demand for psychologists across sectors, including possible demand for assistant psychologists

This data, along with feedback from stakeholders will be used to develop the evidence-based options for redesign.

Be informed about the project 

Keep in touch with the project by regularly reviewing updates on this webpage, in our Connections newsletter and on social media. 

Consultation

There will be ample opportunity for stakeholders to provide feedback to the Board on developing options for consideration by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing on the appropriateness and proposed design of a single, shorter and more practical course of study to qualify as a registered psychologist in Australia, beginning in the undergraduate years.  

Request to be on our stakeholder list

If you would like to be on our redesign project stakeholder list, please complete this form.

Enquiries

Lodge an enquiry form via the website by following the Contact us link on the bottom of every page.

News and news items

See our news item announcing this review.

See project updates in our Connections newsletter

See the Communiques from the Project Steering Committee

Consultation

During public consultation, the consultation documents will be available at Current Consultations 

Links to Qualtrics surveys will be published in the “Have your say” section on this webpage

Project launch webinar

View our webinar launching the redesign project in April 2025 below