United Kingdom

Provided to Europlat by BPS - http://www.bps.org.uk

Students need to have completed upper secondary school and gained GCE A level qualifications (or equivalents) to be able to study psychology in higher education. As psychology is a popular discipline a student will need to have good marks in their upper secondary qualifications.

On completion of a bachelor degree graduates often go onto careers in a number of fields including health and social care, marketing and public relations, management and human resources, education or public sector work.

Candidates wishing to pursue a career as a professional psychologist will undertake a post graduate course, which will be an accredited PhD or Masters degree. In order to practice professionally in the UK, candidates will need to become registered with the appropriate governing body or gain chartered status, depending on their specific professional field. The Health Professionals Council (HPC) regulates practitioner psychologists in the UK. In order to offer services to the public as a psychologist in one of the seven applied areas regulated by the HPC, the candidate needs to complete an HPC approved programme of training. The areas of psychology regulated by the HPC are Clinical, Counselling, Educational, Forensic, Health, Occupational and Sport and Exercise Psychology.

It is estimated that 15-20 per cent of psychology graduates end up working as professional psychologists.