It will come as no surprise to anyone that New Zealand needs more trained psychologists. Shortages have been reported across the countryextending wait times and making it harder for people to get the assistance they need.
The government has promised to create more training positionsbut the issue may be that we’re training these specialists, not the shortage of interest on the part of scholars.
Currently, students who wish to develop into psychologists undergo years of theory before gaining practical experience of their final 12 months of training.
Instead, New Zealand should follow the international examples of the UK, US and Australia, where applied training is supplemented by theoretical classes.
Psychologist training
In New Zealand, someone can only call themselves a psychologist in the event that they are registered with the New Zealand Psychologists Council – Te Poari Kaimātai Hinengaro o Aotearoa.
Registration requires a master’s degree and a postgraduate diploma (six years) or a doctorate (seven years). This creates two problems.
First, students entering master’s degrees are primarily taught theory, often by scientists who will not be practicing psychologists.
Students also cannot register as trainee psychologists and experience what it’s wish to practice until they’re admitted to the postgraduate diploma.
The second, and possibly more significant, issue is that the number of scholars in graduate programs is shrinking from large batches to around ten to fifteen places available at each university’s degree.
This diploma lasts one 12 months and includes 1,500 hours of supervised practice or internship. Students in these positions didn’t have direct exposure to psychology practice during their graduate studies.
Generally, there isn’t any internship in two-12 months master’s programs; there’s minimal study and theory in a single diploma.
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Expensive to finance
A postgraduate degree can also be expensive to finance. Students generally need three different types of supervision: a “clinical” supervisor in the sphere, who’s already busy and accountable for the scholar’s practice, and two university staff.
In conditions of austerity, with so few students and such a high student-faculty ratio, universities are questioning the necessity for such an expensive degree.
Universities only teach students three to 4 week block courses. However, academic staff are also accountable for ensuring that students achieve standards that enable them to register as a psychologist with the New Zealand Psychology Board.
2023 Labor Relations Authority case, it was established that these students were temporary employees and never students. The Ministry of Education is currently required to pay students for 1,500 hours of supervised practice.
This implies that students at the moment are considered each full-time employees (with wages paid by the ministry) and full-time students (with associated education costs).
As a result, it has develop into very expensive for the federal government to fund more training positions.
Alternative training options
In other countries, practice and theory are combined at a much earlier stage of training.
According to A test within the United States, only one in every of the 106 providers the authors checked out waited until senior 12 months to offer students with the chance to experience some hands-on component.
In Australia, students complete a 4-12 months bachelor’s degree in psychology after which earn a master’s degree, which incorporates practical training.
The variety of practice hours increases regularly throughout the Master’s degree program, but begins in the primary 12 months. Australian Psychology Masters are trained by registered psychologists and are integrated into university teaching.
Students are registered with an Australian accreditation body as trainee psychologists on a two-12 months Master’s degree. After graduation, they qualify to work as psychologists, where they’re closely monitored and construct a portfolio towards specialization.
A greater training model
So why doesn’t New Zealand train psychologists on a two-12 months applied master’s course with integrated practice elements, who then work full-time under the watchful eye of our accreditation body?
This would result in faster and higher trained psychologists with a foundation of learning, research and real-world experience.
It would be cheaper for college students, universities and the federal government. It would also be nicer and more empowering for college students who would otherwise often dream of becoming a psychologist, only to seek out out after their masters that they can not get a diploma because there are not any places.
In the UK, an additional 12 months of an applied master’s degree gives psychologists a PhD, which again contrasts with our model of separating training streams.
No matter which way you take a look at it, our system doesn’t train fairly, faster or equally well. To improve this, the country needs to alter its entire training structure, reasonably than trying to resolve the issue by adding a couple of more training positions.
