Facts confirmation

Reading legislation is a fastidious task, especially for those without inclination to law, however, it is also a common need to all citizens and particularly relevant to any psychologist, because part of his/her activity is regulated at this level. We provide in here the main excerpts with relevance to the petition and in italic their logical implications. Nevertheless, we advise attentively reading the legal diplomas fully.

- Law Nº 57/2008, September 4th (association’s statutes)

* Art. 50: The attribution of the professional title, its use and the practice of the psychologist profession, in any activity sector, depend on the entry as an effective member in the association.
[That is, whoever is not already an effective member, but just a trainee or with professional recognition, ceases to have and use their psychologist title and also to practice the profession]

* Nº 2 of art. 51: The change to effective member of the association depends on accomplishing an on-the-job training. (equally nº2 of art. 2 on regulation nº 422/2009)
[That is, it will be necessary one more year of on-the-job training, additional to the one already taken, in order to return to being a psychologist and to practice]

* Nº 3 of art. 53: For the professional license to be issued it is necessary to be approved on the on-the-job training.
[The professional license, unlike the trainee one, is the single one that allows for autonomous practice of the profession; however, psychologists already had a professional license, issued by the government]

* Paragraph a) of art. 61: The rights of effective members are: a) the practice of the psychologist profession.
[Again the idea is underlined that only members already effective can practice]

* Art. 84º: Exempt from the on-the-job training are those graduates that, having done a "licenciatura" of four or five years that included the on-the-job training embedded on the curriculum, prove a professional practice of psychology for a minimum period of 18 months until the date of appointment of the association’s installing committee, under the terms established by the latter. (equally nº3 of art. 2 in regulation nº 422/2009)
[This means that fully licensed psychologists up to that date, through the title attribution and the authorization of its use and of professional practice by Universities and the Work Inspection Authority that issued the professional license, cease to have these rights and all that they have done so far is declared null, worthless and, if there’s no proof, even inexistent. Additionally, they have to superfluously repeat a year of practice as trainees. As for those that can prove 18 months of practice, there´s absolutely no guarantee of its quality, unlike the supervised one during the "licenciatura" – the degree that was recently replaced by a new masters degree due to application of the Bologna’s educational treaty]

- Regulation Nº 422/2009, October 27th (regulation of entry in the association, republished in its definitive form as Regulation Nº 505/2009, at December 21st)

* Paragraph b) in nº 1 of art. 2: Able to enter in the association are those Psychology graduates that have concluded a "licenciatura" with the duration of four or five years, until December 31st 2007.
[That is, those that completed the same training, with the same recognition by the University, but after that date, is somehow less than those that completed it before.]

* Nº 4 of art. 2: For the purposes established in paragraph b) of the n.º 1 in the present article, entries can be accepted for graduates whose "licenciatura" in Psychology pre-Bologna was concluded after December 31st 2007, if the associations’ management verifies that the course curriculum is equivalent to concluding the 1st and 2nd cycles of higher education in Psychology.
[That which was decided by the Universities can therefore be revoked now by the association]

It’s rather interesting the confidence deposited on the association’s installing committee, and the distrust towards those who question the present procedures. It is perhaps a sign that this association was a long time aspiration, but the reflected and uninformed faith has its disadvantages. The association will be formed by all psychologists (except for the trainees, if one notes that they are not included in the statutes as a member’s category), and thus the ideas will then mirror a diversity of opinions, enriched and firmly grounded by that fact. There is no doubt that the national psychologists’ association is a necessity, for all psychologists and for society. Psychologists have the duty of supportive cooperation amongst them; let’s therefore practice it in order to give it a better foundation.