The Register Report, Spring 2006: A Special Report on Developmental Challenges Executive Officer's Desk: Who Needs a Postdoctoral Year? by: Judy E. Hall, Ph.D. Return to Table of Contents

This is a question on the minds of doctoral students, internship and postdoctoral training programs, doctoral programs, licensing boards, state/provincial psychology organizations and the American Psychological Association. In 2000, I participated in the APA Commission on Education and Training Leading to Licensure in Psychology. The 30 person commission recommended that the two year supervised experience requirement leading to licensure be made more flexible. One year of supervised experience could be completed prior to the award of the doctoral degree, in addition to the internship, or up to one year following the receipt of the doctoral degree. The National Register agrees with this principle.

Most of the education and training councils oppose this recommendation. Many graduate students and early career psychologists aggressively support the recommendations. I do not intend to address specific arguments made by either group. The purpose of this column is to point out why the National Register supported the 2001 Commission report in letter to then APA President Norine Johnson, Ph.D., and still does today.

The National Register Response to the Commission Report

Peter Nathan, Ph.D., as Chair of the National Register Board of Directors in 2001, wrote, “When the NR was created in 1973, there was confusion about what a doctoral program in psychology was, there were no internship criteria, and the year of postdoctoral supervised experience was a standard in only a few states. The National Register and APA provided a forum in 1976 and 1977 that led to the development of the designation criteria that identify standards programs must meet to be designated as programs in psychology. The designation criteria are now routinely used by licensure and certification boards to determine eligibility. The National Register implemented the designation of doctoral programs in psychology in 1980 and was joined by ASPPB in 1987. Also, in 1980 the National Register developed the criteria for internship training that formed the basis for subsequent criteria adopted by APPIC and APA. The third criterion of the National Register, that of one year of supervised postdoctoral experience, has been adopted by all but one state as part of the standards for licensure. We recognize that those changes took several years to occur and that other national bodies were involved in promoting those standards. However, it should be noted that the National Register started out in 1973 with a very distinctive standard for definition of a health care provider in psychology.”

Over the next thirty years each state, except one (AL), added a year (or more) of supervised postdoctoral experience to their licensure requirements, essentially bringing their requirements in line with the National Register credentialing requirements and the APA Model Act for State Licensure of Psychologists which followed in 1987. continued

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