Characterizing the nature of professional training and practice of psychologists in South Africa

Abstract

Psychology in South African has a contentious history owing to its alignment with apartheid era ideologies of racial segregation. Although the profession has undergone significant transformation since democracy in 1994, almost three decades later less than a quarter of professional psychologists in the country are black African. Structured psychology training programmes select an average of 8 candidates per year, which has promoted criticism and scrutiny of recruitment and selection procedures that may be more oriented towards those from privileged educational backgrounds. In this interview with Jean-Pierre Bouchard, psychology researchers Anita Padmanabhanunni, Kyle Jackson, Zorina Noordien and Tyrone Pretorius from the University of the Western Cape provide a critical overview of the training and practice of professional psychology in South Africa, selection and recruitment processes, the relevance of the profession, impact of telepsychology and the implications of COVID-19 for professional training and practice.