You Are Here:

Home > The Society > Achieving Our Aims and Objectives > Annual Reports and Accounts > Annual Review 2007 > Boards > Membership and Professional Training Board (MPTB)

Membership and Professional Training Board (MPTB)

Peter Banister (Chair, Membership and Professional Training Board)

The Membership and Professional Training Board has an extensive remit in relation to membership of the Society and postgraduate professional qualifications and development.

Quality assurance and accreditation issues

The Board of Assessors for the Statement of Equivalence in Clinical Psychology and the Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology jointly consulted on revised accreditation criteria for clinical psychology training programmes. These were approved by the MPTB in September. Now for the first time, the criteria specify the models of psychological therapy in which newly-qualified clinical psychologists will be expected to be competent, and, also for the first time, include an explicit requirement that programmes work with service users and carers to ensure that they have a voice in relation to programme development and delivery.

The Board also approved revised learning outcomes for Doctoral training programmes in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The revised learning outcomes feature an increased emphasis on psychology and psychological well-being; a better balance between the individual and systemic work that educational psychologists do; a better balance between learning and behaviour; and emphasis on the notion of impact, where appropriate.

All of the Training Committees have engaged in in-depth discussion of the work being undertaken by the Training Models work stream of the New Ways of Working project, and the Board has established a working party to take the project recommendations forward.

The Society has contributed at a strategic level to work undertaken by Skills for Health to develop a new national quality assurance framework for use by Strategic Health Authorities in England, to assure the quality of the non-medical education and training that they commission each year. The Enhancing Quality in Partnership (EQuIP) framework is out for national consultation until 31 December. Through Skills for Health, the Society has also contributed to a review of the future utility of subject benchmark statements for health areas, and to national projects aimed at mapping the standards and processes of a range of health-related professional, statutory and regulatory bodies.

The Board has led the development of a scheme to recognise members' competence in clinical supervision. Work is ongoing towards an autumn 2008 launch.

The Society is working towards becoming a signatory to the Higher Education Regulation Review Group’s Concordat on quality assurance and data collection in higher education. The emphasis of the Concordat is upon reducing the burden that HE providers face as a result of the quality assurance activities of the many professional, statutory and regulatory bodies with whom they interact.

Examinations and Awards

In 2007 the Society has launched new overarching regulations for its postgraduate qualifications. These regulations ensure that standards and criteria are equitable across the various qualifications, whilst still allowing the flexibility for each of branch of applied psychology, which has become the hallmark of the Society's postgraduate qualifications. We have also issued revised handbooks for all of the Society's postgraduate qualifications in order to implement these regulations. A new Qualification in Occupational Psychology has been launched and preparation of the new Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology is now in its final stages. The legislative framework within which we work provides new challenges and new regulations have been provided for migrants from EEA countries who need to demonstrate some further competencies before they are eligible to register.

Membership and Registration

In 2007, a new Membership Team was formed through the merger the long-established Admissions, Member Records and Subscriptions Teams. The amalgamation of these separate but closely related work areas has allowed more efficient use of staff knowledge and expertise and the further streamlining of process and procedures, resulting in improved standards of service to members and applicants. Moreover, the new Team will be very well placed to address the challenges presented post-statutory regulation, particularly in relation to the promotion and development of membership and member services.

It has been an exciting year in the area of student membership in particular, with the Trustees’ decision to welcome A Level students into membership for the first time. Interest from schools and colleges has been extremely encouraging, with the Society already having links to nearly 250 schools and colleges offering A Level psychology. The Society has been represented at a number of events organised by HEIs aimed at both A Level and undergraduate students where staff have been active in promoting the benefits of student membership.

It is relevant and timely that the Admissions Committee and the Division for Teachers and Researchers in Psychology (DTRP) this year began work on the development of a new competency framework for teachers of psychology, open to teachers in schools, in Higher Education Institutions and in CPD training networks. Not only will this provide a route into the Division and Chartered Status for psychology teachers in a wide range of sectors, but the expectation is that it will lead to career development opportunities and enhanced professional standing for teachers of psychology.

The beginning of the year saw the launch of the Chartered Scientist award, following the Society’s successful application to the Science Council for licensed body status. Over seven hundred Members of the Society have been admitted as Chartered Scientists and during the year, the Society has contributed to key issues in the development of the Science Council register, such as CPD for Chartered Scientists and the accreditation of academic programmes leading to the CSci award.

The Register of Psychologists Specialising in Psychotherapy launched its new grade of Provisional Membership. Provisional Membership of the Register provides clinical and counselling psychologists with recognition of their qualification in psychotherapy as well as a structured way in which to pursue professional development as a psychotherapist and support for planning and developing their psychotherapy practice so as to enable them to achieve Full Membership of the Register.

European Dimension

The Committees involved in evaluating overseas applications for Chartered Status had a particularly busy year, dealing with the implications of the adoption as UK law of a new EU Directive on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. The processes operated by the Committee for the Scrutiny of Overseas Clinical Qualifications (CSICQ) were amended so as to be fully compliant with the new Directive and the Admissions Committee began an initiative to review the EU-compliance of the application process across the other practitioner areas, starting with Educational Psychology. A new system for dealing with both UK and overseas non-standard applications from applicants with qualifications in Educational Psychology was approved by the Membership and Professional Training Board and the first candidates to apply under the new process are expected imminently.

The Representative Council meeting in October saw the launch of the pilot phase of new EuroPsy award - the European Certificate in Psychology. The Europsy is a European standard of education and training that enables individual psychologists to be recognised as having a European-level qualification in psychology. The Society has played a key role in the development of the guiding principles, regulations and procedures governing the new award. Applicants who meet the criteria for the award are entitled to receive a certificate confirming them as a EuroPsy Registered Psychologist and to be entered onto the national EuroPsy register.

It is anticipated that EuroPsy will become a key benchmark for the public and employers as well as making a major contribution to initiatives to minimise obstacles to the mobility of professionals across Europe.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

The Society’s system of CPD for Chartered Psychologists holding a Practising Certificate continues to run smoothly with a steadily increasing number of members, (around 8,000), using our fee Online Planning and Recording facility to maintain and submit a record of their CPD. The revised version of the CPD Online System, based on feedback from users, has now been in operation for a year and has been very well received by members.

The experience gained by CPD Assessors in undertaking a qualitative audit of a random sample (around 5%) of CPD submissions, has been used to develop some FAQs to help members more easily understand what is needed in a CPD Log. Technical improvements have also been made to the assessment part of the Online CPD System.

The CPD telephone and e-mail helpline, operated by staff at the Leicester Office, continues to be extensively used, dealing with an average of around 800 enquiries per month. The telephone training sessions offered have been particularly useful for those using the CPD Online System for the first time.

The Society is aware that compulsory CPD and checks for compliance will be a part of Statutory Regulation, and the Society’s CPD requirements have helped to flag up for members the importance of engagement in CPD, particularly in relation to reviewing how it impacts upon their professional practice.

Finally I would like to thank the staff in the Membership Support Services Directorate for all their hard work.