White clinical psychology trainees' views on racial equity within programme selection in South Africa

Abstract

The issue of diversity in both physical and epistemological access to programmes in higher education is an important concern worldwide. In South Africa, as elsewhere, access to professional clinical psychology training programmes is extremely competitive, and there is an important imperative to diversify the student profile. Perspectives of black students on access to clinical psychology training in South Africa have been extensively studied, but the views of white students are minimally documented. We interviewed four white professional clinical psychology trainees on their views about the role race plays in selection for professional training. Four major themes arose from the participants' responses: uncertainty versus transparency; internal shame versus external blame; race versus socio-economic status and language and relevance versus irrelevance. Participants expressed discomfort with selection procedures, and though there are several limitations to this study, such as the small sample size, the need to open the door to discussions on the frightening topic of race is essential for a socially responsible approach to future equity, diversity and representativeness in professional training in higher education in South Africa.