Australia is one of the favourite places for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in psychology. This is probably due to the shorter distance and lower cost of programs in Australia, as compared to UK and America. However, a lot of people would still ask how to become a psychologist. If you have been following this blog, you should know that just an undergraduate degree is not enough…

This has been written before in a previous post, but this post would be on a more detailed description of how to become a registered psychologist in Australia (general registration), focusing mainly on the below picture. The following information is also available on the APS website.

(copyright of APS)

STEP 1: Three-year accredited undergraduate psychology sequence
– Make sure you finish your APAC-accredited program! This is the very first step to everything.

STEP 2: Fourth-year accredited psychology studies
– This could be in the form of an Honours degree or Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology.

STEP 3: Internship pathway or postgraduate study to general registration
There are currently three pathways to general registration available to fourth year graduates. You may register with the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) to have provisional registration as you start on any of the below options.

OPTION ONE: 4 + 2 internship pathway
– The 4+2 pathway requires you to have supervised employment in a psychological role and provisional registration, before you embark on a two-year internship of supervised practice.

OPTION TWO: 5 +1 internship pathway
– The 5+1 pathway requires you to complete a one-year APAC-accredited Graduate Diploma of Professional Psychology (5th year) and to have provisional registration, followed by a one-year internship of supervised practice.

OPTION THREE: APAC-accredited postgraduate professional psychology degree

– This is the most common option
– Current types of APAC-accredited professional postgraduate degrees are Masters, Doctorate and Masters/PhD, involving coursework, placements and a thesis. Degrees are offered in the nine areas of psychological practice. This pathway requires that a candidate undertake a minimum two-year postgraduate degree (fifth and sixth year of study).
– A postgraduate student must hold provisional registration in order to undertake the supervised practice component of the course – otherwise known as a placement, which is usually part of the program. Upon successful completion of any one of the options, candidates are eligible to apply for general registration as a psychologist with the PsyBA.STEP 4: PsyBA Registrar Program
– This is to allow you to get the practice endorsement in your area of speciality. An endorsement on registration indicates that a psychologist has additional training in an advanced area of practice, in addition to the minimum level of psychological training required for general registration. To qualify for an area of practice endorsement a psychologist must have advanced training over and above that which is required for General registration.
– In short, don’t worry about it yet, till you get there…For more details, please visit http://www.psychology.org.au/studentHQ/studying/study-pathways/