Kristina Potocnik
Slovenia
Angel Barrasa
Spain
EFPSA EDP Project
European Diploma in Psychology represents a system of standards for the education and training of professional psychologists in Europe. This system is organised under the initiative of the European Union (EU) and the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA), in order to achieve greater mobility of professionals across Europe. The EuroPsy project team was also established to develop the contents of this diploma.
The project in general proposes a common framework for training and education of psychologists in Europe (Lunt et al, 2001), and is divided into three phases. The first phase offers a basic education in all areas of psychology, more precisely, in the major psychology theories and techniques. It lasts for three years and does not lead to any occupational qualification nor does it provide the students with the necessary competence for the independent practice in psychology. The second phase prepares the student for the independent professional practice in the field of psychology. In this phase the student also has to show the capacity to acquire skills in research. Furthermore, this part of the curriculum might either be undifferentiated and prepare the student for further PhD training or employment as a psychologist or be differentiated and prepare for practice within a particular professional area of psychology, such as clinical psychology or work & organizational psychology. However, either type of curriculum content is acceptable in the framework of the second phase since all of the knowledge and skills acquired are based on the discipline of psychology. The last phase consists of one year of supervised practice within a particular area of professional psychology. Altogether, the university curriculum should last at least 5 years (300 ECTS) and the duration for supervised practice should be at least 1 year.
To sum up, in the first phase the project team had considered both ‘input’ (curriculum) and ‘output’ (competence) approaches to develop the proposed common framework. On the other hand, in the second phase the project team has elaborated this common framework, consulted on it, and prepared a plan to implement it (Peiró y Lunt, 2002).
In general, current psychology students and graduates as well as future psychology students and psychologists, already working, will benefit from the proposed EDP, which will have impact on student mobility as well as on psychologists’ mobility in Europe, on university level teaching, and on employers who will benefit from higher standards of training and competence (Tikkanen, 2003). Besides, one of the most important benefits of the EDP refers to more work opportunities. Namely, psychologists holding an EDP will have more work opportunities compared to psychologists holding only a national diploma (EFPA, 1990; Tikkanen, 2004).
As EFPSA became an affiliate member of EFPA in the year 2001, students became more involved in this project. At the beginning the role of EFPSA was mainly to do promotion in the form of different seminars, round tables and presentations in each of its member country. In this way EFPSA wanted to involve students and find out their opinion about the proposed European Diploma in Psychology (EDP).
In order to gain a better insight into students’ attitudes towards the EDP, we conducted an international survey in 2003, applying a questionnaire created for this purpose. There were 2983 students from 21 different countries participating in the survey. The aim of the study was mainly to find out what students know about the EDP and what kind of doubts they might have. The results showed that one third of the participants were aware about the EDP and one of there main sources of information were students’ associations. We are proud to say that we informed approximately 2000 students about the EDP only by conducting our survey. Finally, one of the most important findings was that more than half of the participating students think the need for the standardized education of psychology is urgent and very important (Andics et al, 2003).
EFPSA approved the special EDP project at its last congress in Serbia and Montenegro, which is currently preparing a slightly modified version of the first questionnaire in order to assess possible changes in students’ attitudes over the two year period. The results of this second survey will be presented at the ‘European Students & Young Psychologists Program’ taking place at the 9th European Congress of Psychology in Granada (Spain) on the 5th of July 2005. We will hold a round table discussion, where student as well as professional points of view regarding EDP will be presented.
To sum up, we would like to invite all European students to participate in our second survey. In this way EFPSA will be able to present a more solid and representative student attitudes towards this proposed common framework, which will bring a European dimension to national training programmes and will affect a lot the current as well as future psychology students’ careers.
References
Andics, A., Akcay, C., Arzumanyan, A., Baran, B., Barrasa, A., Behluli, V., Casarano, M., Cehajic, S., Coelho, V., Dogan, E.B., Febles, M.J., Feher, A., Gaal, Z.A., Gross, S., Hadziosmanovic, M., Haugaa, P.J., Hausammann, M., Hayrapetyan, d., Hiltunen, S., Huberty, Y., Hüüdma, M., Indus, K., Istrefi, Z., Jenni, C., Jurek, P., Lakic, S., Lelicanin, V., Leo, V., Lokasaari, A., Maloku, E., Markosyan, A., Martins, M., Masiak, K., Maters, G., Mladic, M., Morris, R., Nassar, A., Noronen, J., Nousiainen, E., Petrusova, M., Piirsalu, T., Pilepic, B., Poghosyan, A., Potocnik, K., Simonsen, H.N., Simsic, B., Sircova, A., Solcova, I., Stankovic, S., Sucha, M., Sulajkovski, M., Tanczos, V., Thormann, S., Tutnjevic, S., Unal, A.B., Wollen, S., Wouda, M., Zsadon, A. (2003). Questionnaire on the European Psychologist Diploma, 2003. Poster presented at the 8th European Congress of Psychology. 6-11 July 2003. Vienna (Austria). Proceedings.
EFPA (1990). Optimal Standards for Education of Psychologists in Europe. Brussels: EFPA.
Lunt, I., Bartran, B., Döpping, J., Georgas, J., Jern, J., Joo, R., Lécuyer, R., Newstead, S., Nieminer, P., Odland, T., Peiró, J. M., Poortinga. Y., Roe, R., Wilpert, B., & Hermann, E. (2001). A Framework for Education and Training for Psychologists in Europe. Final report submitted to Leonardo da Vinci Programme.
Peiró, J. M. & Lunt, I. (2002). The Context for a European Framework for Psychologists’ Training. European Psychologist, 7, 169-179.
Tikkanen, T. (2003). Status, Recent Developments, and Future Prospects for Psychologists in Europe. European Psychologist, 8, 289-291.
Tikkanen, T. (2004). European Diploma in Psychology (EDP) in Consultation Process. European Psychologist, 9, 64-65.