A five-year route to registration

What would change

Under the Board’s April 2026 consultation paper, the proposal would:

• replace today’s six-year route with one five-year degree at AQF Level 8 leading straight to general registration;
• remove the +1 internship, provisional registration and the National Psychology Exam for domestic graduates (removing provisional registration would need a further Board consultation);
• move endorsement (for example, clinical) to a standalone two-year part-time master’s, with employers having a greater say in how many endorsed psychologists are trained;
• create a possible psychology-assistant exit after three years of study. In September 2026 the Board said it will recommend dropping the assistant role from this reform.

Why it matters

The Board itself calls this a once-in-a-generation reform of psychology training. The question is not whether training could be more efficient, but whether removing the supervised internship and the national exam has been tested. We have found no published evidence on how the new model would affect the competence of new graduates. The APS makes the same point in its submission.

What to watch

• The Board’s final report to the federal health department (due November 2026), and the Government’s decision on it. The Board published its consultation report in September 2026 and is publishing submissions progressively.
• Whether a psychology-assistant role returns in a later reform. New Zealand has created a registered psychology assistant scope, with a postgraduate qualification required from July 2026.
• Placement capacity and funding, which both the APS and AAPi raise as a bottleneck.