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International Psychologists Are Trained By Varying Degrees

By Rosemary Lyndall Wemm

For instance in U.S. English an "appetizer" has the same meaning as the Australian term "entrée," whereas the U.S. "entrée" has the same meaning as the Australian "main course." A semantically incorrect comparison of an Australian "entrée" with an American "entrée" would result in the spurious conclusion that Australian portions are frugal, while American portions are gargantuan!. The linguistically correct comparison is between an Australian "main course" and an American "entrée." Only then can a ranking based on size of the two servings be legitimately assigned. When an appetizer isn't an appetizer it's no big deal, but when a PhD isn't a PhD, that's another matter. Connotative differences in education can have more far reaching consequences, often causing grief to immigrants from Commonwealth countries.

In Australia, where I come from, education is derived from the Scottish system. Compared with the American version, this system is accelerated and specialization begins early. Professional education, which begins immediately following Year 12, depends on the results of this year. The final assessment results in a nationally standardized university entrance score, which determines which courses are available at tertiary level. Each tertiary course sets its own subject perquisites. Therefore, those who wish to study medicine, veterinary science, or dentistry are required to have excellent grades in two Year 12 Math subjects as well as Physics and Chemistry, while those wishing to study psychology are required to study at least one Math to Year 12 level.

Most non-American degrees, which contain professional coursework, but no research are called Bachelor Degrees, even they are a second or post-graduate degree. The exception is the Bachelor Degree with Honors, or the Honors Degree. In Australia an Honors Degree in Psychology is a highly competitive four-year course which contains the equivalent of 3 years of full-time study in psychology including a publishable research project which is begun in the third year and completed in the fourth. This is the usual route to Provisional Registration as a non-specialist probationary psychologist. The current minimum requirement for Provisional Registration is a three-year Pass Degree with a single major representing 1.2 years of full-time study in psychology, followed by a full-time year of professional psychology where the research project is not expected to be of publishable standard. In both cases the fledgling professional is then required to complete a mandatory two years of approved supervised experience to attain full registration.

The Honors Degree leads to post-basic specialization in professional skills or research. All post-graduate qualifications at Masters level or higher, contain some kind of publishable research project. Those that contain specialist coursework as well as a research project are known as Professional degrees. A Professional Masters is two years; a Professional Doctorate [which is rarely attempted] extends the research project into a third year. Post-graduate degrees, which contain little or no compulsory coursework, are called Research Masters or PhD's. In practice there are few Research Masters awarded as they are usually upgraded to a PhD project at the end of a satisfactory first year. Unlike the American PhD, the Australian PhD is NOT a professional degree and is not accepted as sufficient for state registration as a specialist psychologist or for admission to the specialist professional boards of the Australian Psychological Society. Individuals who hold specialties in both the professional and the research spheres [that is, a Coursework Masters AND a PhD] are extremely rare.

In this system there is no need for post-doctoral training and it does not exist!

Going back to linguistic differences, a language reflects the world in which it originated including different views of that world. Most learners of a new language assume that all words in a foreign language can be translated by a corresponding word in their own language.

Similarly there are no exact American English equivalents of the non-American English terms for upper secondary and tertiary qualifications, and vice-versa. Neither the Australian Year 12 certificate nor the Australian Bachelor degree has any exact equivalent in the American system.

Roughly speaking, the Australian Year 11 is equivalent to an International Baccalaureate. An Australian Year 12 ranges in level between an American Associate degree and an American Bachelor degree with a Math major and three minors in Physics, Chemistry and English. A three-year Australian Bachelor degree at Pass level is roughly equivalent to an American Master degree. A four-year Australian Honors degree approximates a three-year American doctorate. A five-year Australian Bachelor degree at Pass level is generally equivalent to a four-year American professional doctorate. A two-year Australian Coursework Masters is somewhere between an American PhD and a post-doctoral diplomat. An Australian PhD is similar but not identical to an American post-doctoral research program.

The proportion of the population reaching these commensurate but differently named levels is approximately equivalent for each country. About one third of Australian professional psychologists have a Coursework Masters degree and about one third of American APA members have a post-doctoral diploma.

In Australia the problem of translating foreign credentials into local equivalents is handled by the National Office of Overseas Skill Recognition [NOOSR] which publishes comparative education profiles on most of the countries of the world, including the USA. These papers are referred to by those who employ foreign-trained individuals and by education officials trying to place foreign students. On the other hand, the State Boards, which are responsible for licensing professionals generally, refer to the credential review committees of the major professional bodies.

The Boards, which license psychologists in the Australian States and Territories, use the Australian Psychological Society to evaluate foreign credentials in psychology. An American PhD in professional psychology is the usual minimum requirement but some American Master degrees are accepted. Holders of American PhD's are not permitted to refer to themselves as "doctor" in their Australian practice unless the research component of their degree is deemed to be equivalent to an Australian PhD project. This is a source of annoyance to most expatriate Americans. The lack of title is also a source of annoyance to Australian professional psychologists, as they remain the only Australian health professional group with more than four years training which is not awarded an honorary title of "doctor."

The United States is generally ignorant of educational systems other than its own. Even when this is not the case the implications of these differences fail to be reflected in the actions which follow. The U.S. Ministry of Education acknowledges that American College level material is classified as "upper secondary" in most non-American countries but they fail to take account of this in their comparative statistics. Same-named qualifications are compared as if they were identical in content, level and purpose. It is left to UNESCO to provide a set of statistics based on a reasonable classificatory system. According to these statistics Australia and the United States of America have similar levels of professionally trained individuals, in spite of the differences in degree naming practices.

In the United States there is no national equivalent of NOOSR and no uniformity of licensing practice across the various States. Credential evaluation is generally left to commercial bodies who frequently have little or no understanding of the differences between American educational systems and those in other English speaking countries and simply equate degrees on a same-name equal's same-level basis. Even bodies of professional psychologists fall into this trap.

This practice is encouraged by various state legislation's, which assert that a candidate for licensure must have a PhD degree but fail to acknowledge that this term is ambiguous when applied to degrees obtained outside the United States. The State of Maryland has legislation, which will not allow any course of study in psychology to be counted if it does not occur in a degree named "PhD." This results in ludicrous comparisons which make it appear that Australian training in psychology contains little or no professional course-work.

If this title were only awarded for use in the United States then this is a kinder and less offensive corollary to the extant Australian practice of stripping American PhD's of their title during the time they practice in Australia.

(A greater depth of information, as well as relevant statistics on this subject can be found at www.neurognostics.com.au/academicequivs/ozziepsychocringe.html)

ROSEMARY LYNDALL WEMM is a specialist clinical neuropsychologist who has recently moved from Perth, Australia to the San Francisco Bay Area of California. She is currently learning to translate Australian English into the local Californian dialect and eventually hopes to become fluently bilingual.