Development of Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes for Psychologists

The Psychologists Registration Board is continuing to make progress towards the introduction of statutory regulation for the psychology profession. The Board has developed a regulatory model that will facilitate the protection of the title ‘psychologist’ in Ireland. This model will introduce regulation in two phases: the first phase of which will see the opening of three registers – one each for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists – followed, in the second phase, with a fourth register opened – known as the ‘Psychologists Register’. This register will be for all other psychology specialisms. Together, when opened, these four registers will allow for protection of the professional title ‘psychologist’. More detail on the regulatory model that will facilitate the introduction of regulation for psychologists is available here.

Alongside the publication of three distinct sets of pre-registration education and training requirements for clinical, counselling and educational psychologists (more detail here), the Board has been progressing with work to draft Standards of Proficiency that articulate the knowledge and skills required for entry into practice across all the remaining psychology specialisms.

The Board’s drafting process has been layered and multi-faceted. In its first stage, the Board appointed a small group, comprising of national and international experts in professional regulation, education quality assurance and psychology, for the purpose of preparing an initial draft set of Standards. This initial drafting stage concluded in September 2025.

A second stage of work commenced during late Autumn 2025, where CORU brought key stakeholders together as part of a number of engagement sessions to review and get feedback on the draft Standards of Proficiency for Psychologists. 

Engagement with stakeholders has continued through 2026. It is anticipated that, following this engagement to support stakeholder understanding of regulatory standards and regulatory processes more broadly, the Psychologists Registration Board will be in a position to hold a public stakeholder consultation process in Autumn 2026. This public consultation process will also seek feedback on draft Criteria for Education and Training Programmes, the requirements for education providers to provide assurance that all graduates from an education and training programme have demonstrated achievement of the Standards of Proficiency.

Following the close of this consultation process, the Board will review all feedback submitted and make any changes and revisions necessary before publishing its finalised Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes for entry to the register for Psychologists.

The Board will continue to keep stakeholders updated on its work in relation to its Psychologists Register through the CORU website, newsletter and social media channels.