Descriptions

This article was published in April 1988 in Charter Guide No.3, an occasional publication about amendments to The Royal Charter. It was amended in October 1995.

The amendments to the Society’s Royal Charter and Statutes recently allowed by the Privy Council in 1987 introduced principles for the manner in which various categories of members may refer to their membership of the Society. Statute 31 is the key reference that is considered in this article. The right to use certain titles, in particular the title ‘Chartered Psychologist’, is enshrined in the Charter and Statutes but certain other practices are left to be determined by the Board of Trustees (e.g. Statute 31 (3) that is discussed below).This statement therefore is being issued by the Council for the guidance of Society Members and Contributors. Different principles apply to different grades of member.

The indicative nature of the Register

By analogy, the revised Charter and Statutes confers on the Society the ‘copyright’ to a specific ‘trademark’ – the title ‘Chartered Psychologist’. Only psychologists who are Members of the Society with the necessary qualifications may use the title ‘Chartered Psychologist’ once they have applied for and been accepted for registration. If anyone whose name is not on the Register were to use the title ‘Chartered Psychologist’ the Society would have the authority to seek an injunction or to take other legal measures to restrain the person concerned from wrongly appropriating a title which by Royal Consent may be used only by Members of the Society whose names are entered on the Register. Possession of the qualifications sufficient for registration is not enough as eligibility for registration is also dependent on giving assent to the Code of Conduct. Only Members who have actually registered and agreed to abide by the Code of Conduct may use the protected title ‘Chartered Psychologist’.

The Charter and Statutes are silent on what functions or activities as psychologists those on the Register or other members of the Society are competent to perform.We have an indicative form of non-statutory registration in which only the use of the title ‘Chartered Psychologist’ is protected. However, it is through the Code of Conduct that the Society protects the public from the actions of psychologists practising outside their sphere of competence. Article 3 (iii) of the Royal Charter records the following as one of the principal objects of the Society: ‘to maintain a Code of Conduct for the guidance of Members and Contributors and to compel the observance of strict rules of professional conduct as a condition of membership.’ It must be emphasised that the Code of Conduct refers to all Members and Contributors of the Society, that is by way of example all Chartered Psychologists, Fellows,Associate Fellows, Graduate Members, Student Subscribers or Affiliates – formerly called Subscribers. All members of the Society come within the aegis of the new disciplinary provisions and all members are bound by Clause 2 of the Code of Conduct that concerns competence. Clauses 2.1 and 2.2 are especially relevant; they read as follows:

‘Psychologists shall:

0. refrain from laying claim, directly or indirectly, to psychological qualifications or affiliations they do not possess, from claiming competence in any particular area of psychology in which they have not established their competence, and from claiming characteristics or capabilities for themselves which they do not possess;
   
0. recognise the boundaries of their own competence and not attempt to practise any form of psychology for which they do not have an appropriate preparation or, where applicable, specialist qualifications.’

Chartered Psychologists

Once on the Register all Chartered Psychologists are to be encouraged to use the new title or the abbreviation ‘C.Psychol.’ as often as possible; indeed the wording of Statutes goes so far as positively to enjoin Chartered Psychologists to use the title. Only if those on the Register routinely use the title in professional contexts, on case reports, on publications, in their advertisements and on their letter paper will the public be able to rely on the title as the means of knowing they are dealing with a bona fide psychologist who is recognised as properly qualified by the Society.

Article 9 of the Charter states:

The Council shall maintain a Register of Chartered Psychologists. Application to be entered on to the Register may be made by suitably qualified Members.Those whose names appear on the Register, except those who have Conditional Registration, shall be entitled to use the designation ‘Chartered Psychologist’ and to use after their name the abbreviation ‘C.Psychol.’

Statute 31 (4) amplifies this provision by stating:

Subject to the provisions of paragraph 5 below, Members whose names are included in the Register of Chartered Psychologists other than those to whom only Conditional Registration has been granted will use the designation ‘Chartered Psychologist’ or use after their name the abbreviation ‘C.Psychol.’ (but no other), in any appropriate professional context including personal notices or advertisements, but Members conditionally registered shall not use such designation or abbreviation.

It is important to note that no variants of the abbreviation of ‘C.Psychol.’ are permitted (e.g. ‘C.Clin.Psychol.’ is not allowed.)

‘Paragraph 5’, that is Statute 31 (5), then goes on to state:

Chartered Psychologists may insert an additional item between ‘Chartered’ and ‘Psychologist’ to indicate their particular area of psychological expertise (but may not use an abbreviation other than that authorised in paragraph (4) above). Only such additional terms may be employed in this context as are explicitly sanctioned by a resolution passed in a postal ballot of Members. In the case of terms referring to areas of psychology for which the Society has a Division, use of the term shall be restricted to those eligible for membership of the Division concerned.

Following the convention adopted by other chartered professions it will be usual for the abbreviation ‘C.Psychol.’ to be placed after the list of a Member’s degrees and diplomas but before the abbreviation ‘FBPsS’ or AFBPsS’, (e.g. Jo Smith, BSc, PhD, C.Psychol., AFBPsS).As far as Chartered Psychologists are concerned the main message is: use the new title as often as possible and don’t let anyone try to stop you.The right to use the title is a privilege conferred on you with Royal approval.

Fellows and Associate Fellows

The amendments to the Charter and Statutes included a provision in which the former grade of ‘Associate’ became re-titled ‘Associate Fellow’. The former title was often misunderstood as referring to a lesser grade of membership than Graduate Member. Statute 12 (1) made provisions for all Fellows and Associate Fellows who held this grade of Membership on 18 December 1987 to be automatically eligible for registration as a Chartered Psychologist, provided an application was submitted within 18 months of the Statute coming into force, that is by 18 June 1989.

Statute 31 (2) places a restriction on the context in which reference can be made to any description indicating membership or contributorship in any personal notice inserted as an advertisement in the press or elsewhere. This had previously been interpreted to place a restriction on the reference to Fellowships and Associate Fellowships as well as ordinary membership of the Society. Statute 31 (2) reads as follows:‘No Member or Contributor shall use any description indicating Membership or Contributorship in a personal notice inserted as an advertisement in the press or elsewhere.’

Earlier (1987) the Council had defined an advertisement as ‘a communication addressed directly to the public or a section of it, the purpose of which is to influence the behaviour or opinions of those to whom it is addressed. An advertisement, therefore, includes any announcement of the professional services of an individual psychologist or a group of psychologists whether working in private practice or for a corporate employer, appearing for example in the press, television, radio, or in the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory, or in a brochure distributed directly through a potential client’s letterbox’. Previously, in these contexts Fellows and Associate Fellows who had registered as Chartered Psychologists were encouraged to claim to be ‘Chartered Psychologists’, but were prevented from making any other reference to their membership of the Society, for example by listing the initials AFBPsS or FBPsS after their names. At that time the reasoning for this prohibition was that the Society did not want to confuse the public, and that it was the reference to being a Chartered Psychologist on which it was intended that the public should come to rely as the only certain way of recognising a psychologist who is regarded by the Society as appropriately qualified to hold out to offer advice or professional services as a psychologist.

As the Register of Chartered Psychologists has become better known to the public, and as the awarding of Associate Fellowship and Fellowship of the Society does confer additional recognition upon Members (as opposed to the use of MBPsS, which provides no additional recognition of qualification to a first degree in psychology) Council felt that the application of Statute 31 (2) ought not be interpreted to include the descriptions of AFBPsS and FBPsS.The previous restrictions relating to the use of those letter descriptions was, therefore, removed with regard to advertisements.

Chartered Psychologists who have the designation of AFBPsS or FBPsS may now make use of those letters in circumstances which were outlined and defined as an advertisement by Council in 1987 as described previously.

Graduate Members and Ordinary Members

No new Ordinary Members of the Society have been accepted since 1965 when this category of Membership became obsolete for all new applicants.

Along with Fellows and Associate Fellows, Graduate Members and Ordinary Members of the Society are bound by Statute 30 (2) that states:

No Member or Contributor shall use any description indicating Membership or Contributorship in any personal notice inserted as an advertisement in the press or elsewhere.

However, Statute 31 (3) adds:

No Ordinary Member or Graduate Member shall use the description ‘(Member) (Graduate Member) of The British Psychological Society’ (as the case may be) in any context, professional or otherwise, whatsoever, except in such circumstances as may be determined by the Board of Trustees.

The implication of Statute 31 (3) is that Graduate Members and Ordinary Members shall not refer to their membership of the Society except in the situations outlined below. Before considering these situations when reference to membership is permitted, the reasons for the restriction imposed by Statute 30 (3) should be examined. Possession of an approved first degree in psychology entitles the psychology graduate to Graduate Membership of the Society as a learned scientific society, but a first degree in psychology on its own does not entitle a psychology graduate to practise psychology professionally without further training or supervised experience. This principle is central to Statute 12 (3) that defines the conditions necessary for chartered status, that is granted when the member ‘shall be judged by the Council to have reached a standard sufficient for professional practice in psychology without supervision…’ Graduate Members who believe they are fully qualified to practise psychology professionally without further training or supervised experience should apply for Chartered status.

All reference to Graduate Membership (or Ordinary Membership) of the Society is therefore misleading (e.g. on a business card, or on a letter heading, in a list of staff or in an advertisement) as it might be construed to imply an additional qualification beyond that of a first degree on which it is normally based or an authority to practise psychology without supervision.

Graduate Members or Ordinary Members may refer to their Membership of the Society when applying for a job, a traineeship, a postgraduate course, or otherwise listing their membership of learned societies on application forms (e.g. for membership of other societies). In these contexts it is right to point out that they are Members of the Society and subject to its Code of Conduct.

Some Graduate Members will be fully qualified members of other professions (e.g. psychiatry, social work) or in practice, for example, as management consultants, counsellors or psychotherapists. In these situations it is still important that they do not imply they are practising as psychologists by making reference to Graduate Membership, even though they will undoubtedly be using their knowledge of psychology to enhance their practice of psychiatry, social work, psychotherapy or other profession. If they are really in practice primarily as psychologists they should apply for Chartered status.

By insisting upon this principle the Society is not asking psychology graduates or Graduate Members to sell themselves short. In many careers (e.g. as school teachers, personnel officers, social workers, nurses or management consultants) psychology graduates are able to draw on their knowledge of psychology to enhance their skills and effectiveness. This is exactly what the Society claims a psychology degree should do. There is no intention of asking psychology graduates to deny the value and practical relevance of their degrees in psychology. The danger the Council is seeking to avoid is simply that reference to Graduate Membership in any public context is misleading.To the uninformed member of the public it implies a professional qualification to practise as a psychologist.The latter claim by Members should now be made only by Chartered Psychologists. The letters after the name of a Graduate Member, MBPsS or GMBPsS or any other variant of them should never be used in any context. For many years their use has been prohibited by the Council.

Breaches of these regulations here promulgated by the Society may lead to disciplinary procedures and potentially to dismissal from Membership of the Society. However, linked to this warning is the invitation for Graduate Members who believe they are eligible to practise as psychologists without supervision to apply for Chartered status, if they have the qualifications outlined in Statutes 12 (2) or (3).

Conditional Registration

Conditional Registration was introduced into the Charter and Statutes as a safeguard to ensure that postgraduate students or trainees under supervision who have not yet obtained the qualifications required for Chartered Status can nevertheless be recognised by members of the public as trainees when, under supervision, they provide various psychological services to the public. The prohibition of Statute 31 (4) was cited above. No Member who is conditionally registered shall use any description or abbreviation in any public context. However, the Register will list the names of conditionally registered psychology graduates. All conditionally registered psychology graduates will have the Graduate Basis for Registration and therefore all will be Graduate Members.The prohibitions on reference to Conditional Registration are essentially the same as those that apply to Graduate Members.

Contributors of the Society

The category ‘Contributor’ referred to in the Charter, Statutes and Rules covers the grades of Student Subscriber, Affiliate (formerly Subscriber) and Foreign Affiliate. Following the recent amendments to Rule 3, no Student Subscribers will be eligible for Graduate Membership. Contributors are referred to in the Charter, Statutes and Rules as ‘members of the Society’ (lower case ‘m’) to distinguish them from all other grades of Society Members (with capital ‘M’).To become a Contributor no formal qualifications in psychology have to be held and where they may be held (in case of Foreign Affiliates) only minimal checks by the Society have to be carried out to vouch for their authenticity. In some comparable bodies, Members are referred to as those with corporate grades of membership. Although this terminology is not used in the Charter, Statutes and Rules it nevertheless applies and only Members of the Society can vote in its affairs.

The prohibitions of Statutes 31 (2) and 31 (3) apply with equal force to Contributors as they do to Graduate Members. Thus Statute 31 (2) states ‘No … Contributor shall use any description indicating … Contributorship in any personal notice inserted as an advertisement in the press or elsewhere’ and Statute 30 (3) states ‘… no Foreign Affiliate, Affiliate or Student Subscriber shall use the description ‘[Foreign Affiliate] [Affiliate] [Student Subscriber] of the British Psychological Society’ (as the case may be) in any context professional or otherwise, whatsoever, except in such circumstances as may be determined by the Board of Trustees.’

The principal purpose of being a Contributor is to gain access to various membership concessions from the Society itself (e.g. to get journals at reduced member rates or to pay the reduced member registration fees for conferences). It is mainly when interacting with the Society itself or with other organisations offering concessions to Society members (e.g. the American Psychological Association) when Contributors may wish to make reference to being an Affiliate, Foreign Affiliate or Student Subscriber. However, when applying for a postgraduate course or for certain jobs there may be advantages in being able to indicate an interest in psychology. Great care should be taken not to suggest, even indirectly, that Student Subscribership or Affiliateship implies the possession of any qualification in psychology or authority to practice as a psychologist. Reference to membership of the Society should be avoided as this could lead to misunderstanding; the term used in the Charter and Statues is ‘Contributor’.

Student Subscribership does not guarantee that the student will on graduation necessarily have met the requirements for Graduate Membership. It means only that the student is on a track that can potentially lead to Graduate Membership (e.g. if all the required options in an approved degree course are actually taken and the degree is passed successfully at honours standard); when applying for a course students are likely in addition to need to confirm that they are working towards a qualification that confers eligibility for Graduate Membership or the Graduate Basis for Registration (as the case may be).

In any event, the same prohibitions apply to reference to Contributorship of the Society as apply to Graduate Membership. No reference to Contributorship should appear in any public document, list of staff, advertisement, on a letter heading or in any other place where it could be construed to imply a qualification in psychology or authority to practise as a psychologist.

A Postscript

The requirement to ensure that the Society’s Statute 31 and these regulations promulgated by the Council are observed is not a trivial one. Under the terms of its revised Charter, Statutes and Rules, even more than before, external organisations including Government itself will be looking to the Society as the Chartered professional association responsible for defining the requirements of those who are to hold out as psychologists.The Society has a responsibility to maintain explicit standards and to take action to inhibit practices over nomenclature that might be confusing to the public. Its crucial requirement is for the public to be able to rely on the Register of Chartered Psychologists as that group of Members with the necessary qualifications to ‘be judged by the Council to have reached a standard sufficient for professional practice in psychology without supervision’. In this context professional practice includes teaching and research just as much as practice as a professional applied psychologist.

The fact that the Society must ensure that these regulations are observed is a good reason why all those eligible for Chartered status should register.

References

The British Psychological Society (1987). Guidelines on advertising the services offered by psychologists. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 40, 172-173.