I propose to take Questions Nos. 258, 259, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266 and 268 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, CORU is Ireland's multi-profession health and social care regulator. CORU’s role is to protect the public by regulating the health and social care professions designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended), including setting the standards that health and social care professionals must meet to be eligible for registration and maintaining registers of persons who meet those standards.
The Psychologists Registration Board (PSRB) was established in 2017. The work of the PSRB includes setting the Standards of Proficiency for entry to its register and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes, establishing a Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics that registrants must adhere to, and approving and monitoring education and training programmes.
Regulating a new profession is a complex and lengthy process, requiring careful consideration and preparatory work to ensure that it is effective in protecting the public. Psychology has been a uniquely challenging profession to regulate due to the diversity of its specialisms and the fact that there is no common education pathway or standards for entry to the profession.
A significant body of work has been undertaken by CORU and the PSRB in the last number of years to progress the opening of the psychology registers, including extensive research, public consultation, detailed risk analysis, and the establishment of an expert advisory group to make recommendations on a bespoke regulatory model.
A regulatory model has been developed that will facilitate the protection of the title ‘psychologist’ in Ireland. Regulation will be introduced in two phases. The first phase will see registers opened for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists, with the second phase encompassing all other psychology specialisms.
In preparation for the opening of the three specialist registers, as part of the first phase of introducing regulation, the PSRB has published its pre-registration education and training requirements for entry onto each of the three registers for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists.
For each of the three specialisms, the PRSB has published two key documents:
• Standards of Proficiency: these outline the threshold knowledge and skills required for entry to the register. These standards apply only to new or recent graduates at the time the register opens.
• Criteria for Education and Training Programmes: these set out the systems and processes education providers must implement in the design and management of education and training programmes. They provide assurance that all graduates have achieved all the Standards of Proficiency upon successful completion of an education and training programme.
The PSRB launched a public consultation on draft Standards and Criteria for clinical, counselling, and educational psychologists on 7 October 2024, inviting feedback from a range of stakeholders including members of the profession, education providers, employers, professional bodies and members of the public.
The published Standards and Criteria reflect the input of the nearly 700 individuals who responded to the public consultation process.
The PSRB’s statutory remit is to ensure the competence of registrants to practice safely in any setting where they engage with vulnerable service users. This is inextricably bound with its legal object and remit to ensure protection of the professional title; namely, that all who use the protected title of educational psychologist have the same threshold knowledge, skills and competence to ensure a consistent, safe level of practice. Practice education, as a means of ensuring that graduates have demonstrated achievement of competency at a threshold level is an essential component of an education and training programme equipping future practitioners to work safely upon graduation.
The PSRB’s published requirements for educational psychologists set out that at a minimum practice placements should be undertaken in an education and a health/social care setting. The requirement to undertake a placement in both an education setting, and in a health/social care setting reflects current practice on Education Psychology Doctoral Programmes delivered in the State. The PSRB’s priority is that the threshold Standards of Proficiency protect the public by ensuring that a registrant, no matter their place of employment, can practice safely, competently and autonomously.
The PRSB’s requirements for practice placements sets out the service user groupings with whom students must engage, including children and adolescents in education settings, child and adolescent disability, and adult disability settings. The intent of the PSRB is not to proscribe placements in these settings, but rather the service user groups that a student should engage with over the course of their placements.
Engagement with the Department of Education and Youth/NEPS on placement requirements for course approval for education psychologists has been ongoing since 2024. CORU’s position of requiring multi-sectoral placements has been clearly communicated as necessary from a public protection perspective. This position recognises that training is not intended for a specific sectoral role, but for a profession whose practitioners may operate across both educational and health and social care systems.
Educational psychologists provide a vital service to children and their families across a breath of settings including in schools and other educational settings, CAMHS, Child Disability Network Teams, primary care, and in private practice.
The multi-sectoral placement approach is in the full interests of public, child-centred service delivery, current models of care, and the expansion and optimal utilisation of the psychologist workforce. The existing higher education providers are either already meeting the required standards or committed to doing so.
Significant progress has been made towards opening the registers of clinical, counselling, and educational psychology, and it is anticipated these registers will open next year. CORU and my department are fully committed to delivering regulation of this very important profession.
