Coaching Psychology Professional Recognition Route (PRR)
This route has been developed to ensure that coaching psychology practitioners who meet the level 8 standards to gain chartered membership for the BPS through their professional training and practice have the opportunity to do so.
About the Coaching Psychology Professional Recognition Route
The Coaching Psychology Professional Recognition Route (PRR) enables practitioners to draw upon their fullest professional experience and become chartered members of the BPS through evidencing their professional training and practice in coaching psychology.
Applicants will be required to submit a portfolio of evidence which shows that they have achieved the level 8 standards as set out in the applicant handbook.
Download the applicant handbook
Upon successful completion, applicant's details will be forwarded onto the relevant team to process the chartered membership upgrade. Applicants will also be eligible for, full membership of the Division of Coaching Psychology and to join the Register of Coaching Psychologists.
Achieving chartered status through this route enables use of the title Chartered Coaching Psychologist.
Benefits of undertaking this route
- Formal recognition of your existing professional experience and competence
- Upon successful completion, you will become a chartered member of the BPS and eligible to become a full member of the Division of Coaching Psychology, as well as being able to apply to join the Register of Coaching Psychologists
Is this route right for you?
The Coaching Psychology Professional Recognition Route is suitable for practitioners who possess three years' full time (or part time equivalent) coaching psychology experience and are seeking to gain formal recognition.
The flowchart below will help to identify which route is best for an applicant, given their existing status and experience.
Structure
Once you have registered onto the route and settled your fees you will be added to our online learning platform, BPS Learn.
As this is a professional recognition route, you will need to include details of your professional journey and development over time as an independent and competent coaching psychologist.
You will be required to detail your training and experience, as well as any formal or informal learning and continuing relevant professional development, which will demonstrate how you meet the three years' training and experience requirement, your experience of working with a range of clients in a variety of topics, and how you have acquired, developed and applied your psychological evidence-based practice within coaching.
Please see the handbook for further information on what is required in your portfolio and how it is to be submitted.
Enrolment requirements
- Have the graduate basis for chartered membership (GBC)
- Have a minimum of three years full time (or part time equivalent) training and experience as a coaching psychologist, since achieving eligibility for graduate membership.
- Have a total of 690 days of coaching psychology relevant work/training comprising 160 days of applied work with clients.
- Have had at least 8 supervision sessions (of an hour's duration) in the past 2 years, with a Chartered Psychologist who is on the Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors (RAPPS) and at least 6 of the sessions with a Chartered Psychologist who specialises in coaching.
- Demonstration of the Level 8 standards in Coaching Psychology.
- Individual or employer must hold indemnity insurance for coaching psychology practice.
We recommend you read the handbook to view the full eligibility criteria and additional information before applying.
Submission dates
There are four submission dates each year.
You can apply at any point. It is expected that the PRR will take approximately six to nine months.
The portfolio submission deadlines are:
- 01 January
- 01 April
- 01 July
- 01 October
You will be able to register for your portfolio submission when you have completed your application and enrolment.
Please refer to the handbook for assessment key dates.
How to apply
Fees
Member price: £2683 (+VAT)
Payments are made at the end of a registration window.
Please note that the initial fee for chartered membership and division membership is included within the PRR fee, up until your next membership renewal point, after which an annual fee will be due. Entry onto the register is optional and incurs an additional fee.
Joining the Register of Coaching Psychologists will incur additional cost and is optional.
How to submit your application
Complete an application form here
Once your application has been processed, and eligibility for the route confirmed, you will be provided with an invoice and later given access to the route via BPS Learn. You can then download all relevant forms and documentation.
Our Assessment & Awards Team are available to support with any other queries surrounding the Professional Recognition Route to Coaching Psychology.
I am not sure if my research report (it was written in the style of a journal article) is sufficient for my application. Can you provide me with any details on whether my research report will suffice and what else I should include?
You must demonstrate that the research that you submit must clearly meet the competencies within Standard 4.
You need to demonstrate that you have undertaken primary data collection, analysed and interpreted that data, and therefore a systematic review or other secondary data collection would not meet this requirement.
You are able to submit two or more research reports, if they collectively demonstrate the requirements of Standard 4. If any of the research is not specifically in Coaching Psychology, you should include a short narrative which demonstrates how and why the research can be relevant to coaching psychologists. Please ensure that you follow the guidance set out in the handbook relevant to your route to determine if the full research report meets the required word limit or for other acceptable submission formats.
Will my transcript and certificate for my Masters programme that includes my research project, suffice for my application or would you suggest I include any additional evidence?
You will need to include your full research report, and if it is not directly about coaching psychology, you will need to include an additional piece to explain its relevance to coaching psychology practice.
You also need to ensure that the research is of publishable quality.
You are required to demonstrate that you can conduct empirical research, and that you are able to evaluate practice using an appropriate research design. The research can be quantitative or qualitative. Please ensure you follow the guidance set out in the handbook relevant to your route.
In relation to section 4.9 Research Report in the Professional Recognition Route Handbook, can you be clearer about what constitutes research that is "more ambitious study than would normally be undertaken for completion of an MSc thesis.......but less am
The research that you submit does not necessarily have to be research that you have undertaken as part of a formal programme of study e.g., a Masters Degree or PhD, although it could be.
The normal requirements for research at MSc level are that it is informed by work at the forefront of the discipline, that
you have shown originality in your work, and that you understand how the boundaries of research are advanced
through research.The difference at PhD level is that you are required to generate new knowledge or understanding that extends the
forefront of the discipline. Many MSc students do produce research that meets this level, but this is above and beyond
what is required at MSc level.For the purposes of Standard 4, your research should be above what is expected at Masters level and should align
more to the level expected during a PhD, but it doesn't need to be at the scope or scale of a PhD.As an independent practitioner, is ethical approval required for independent research design?
We have produced a guidance document which describes the steps for you to consider and take as an independent researcher.
Statement on ethics review and independent research with human participants
You may also find the BPS Code of Human Research Ethics useful.
I am receiving an error message when using BPS Learn, the Virtual Learning Environment.
Please advise where you encountered the error and if possible, a screenshot. Using the information provided we will attempt to resolve this for you.
Please email us with the details of the error message, [email protected].
I have booked into a group but cannot submit my documentation.
If you are not able to submit a document, it means that the process of opening to the submission phase has not yet been actioned on BPS Learn.
Please be assured, as soon as this part of the process is opened, you will receive a notification, and you will then be able to submit your documents.
We need to wait for deadlines to pass, cohort dates, and/or group sizes to be viable before moving to the submission stage. However, you can continue to collect, and store your submission documents on your computer, ready to submit.
If you are still experiencing problems with submitting your documents please contact [email protected].
I have submitted my Peer Review submission, but I cannot see other group members to review.
In a similar way to the submission stage, the assessment stage for Peer Reviews will only be opened once all group members have submitted their work, by the submission deadline that was given in previous correspondence.
You will receive an announcement once the assessment stage is open to you on BPS Learn.
Other Peer Review participants have submitted more evidence of certain standards than I have. Is this a problem?
Not necessarily. The point of the Peer Review sessions is to give an account of your experiences to support your documentation, so you may wish to explain your experience further in conversation during your Peer group session.
Your peers within the group session will also be able to ask each other about any areas where they would like more information. If the participant/s agree it would be useful to see more documentation you will have an opportunity to send this through after the Peer Review group session.
How do the principles of peer review work in this context?
All participants in the peer review sessions hold Chartered status and have been included in the Register of Coaching Psychologists (or demonstrate that they were eligible to be included pre-November 2021).
In transferring to the new Division, and creating the first Chartered Coaching Psychologists, this process draws on your experience and expertise as a Chartered Member, and your expertise in coaching psychology, to make decisions about how your peers' work aligns with the new Level 8 Standards in Coaching Psychology. Participants are peers because you have all have achieved similar levels of expertise, and we are asking you to use this expertise to review each other's work for alignment with the standards.
What are the timelines for Peer Reviews?
Once you have paid your invoice, the next stage will be the ‘submission phase’ on BPS Learn, this is activated approximately two weeks before the Peer Review date you have booked onto, via BPS Learn.
Group participants will now be given access to additional tiles; where you can upload your documentation, you will then have a few days to complete this process. You will be advised of the deadline for your submission by email.
You will then receive notice by email, approximately five to seven days before the Peer group session that you are then in the 'assessment phase'. This will allow peers access to each other's submissions for viewing up until the date of your Peer Review.
After your review session, you will be advised approximately seven working days later whether you have been successful.
When do I next hear from you after payment for my Accelerated application?
Once payment received, and you have been given BPS Learn access, please book onto a cohort.
The next stage is approximately seven weeks before the submission date for the cohort you have chosen, BPS Learn will open up to allow your submission. You will be notified of this by email.
We aim to advise you approximately six weeks after your submission deadline, if you are successful, and through to the next stage of the Professional Conversation. The professional conversation will be arranged for a mutually agreed date and time as soon as we can.
If I register for a cohort, and then need longer to submit, would there be a cost implication, for example additional fees?
If you are remaining on the same route, you will be able to transfer cohorts without paying an additional fee.
If you wish to change routes, there may be a difference in the fee amounts. Please contact [email protected] to discuss any changes to your cohort or route.
When will I get access to BPS Learn and the relevant templates and workshops?
Once we’ve received payment for your route, you will be given access to BPS Learn.
If we have not been in contact with you, after seven working days of payment, please email [email protected], with proof of payment. We will then look into this for you, and once our finance team have confirmed payment, we will send you BPS Learn log in details, with the link and the password required, providing you access to BPS Learn.
I have paid my invoice, what do I do now?
If we have not been in contact with you after seven working days of payment contact us.
Please email [email protected] with proof of payment.
We will then look into this for you, and once our finance team have confirmed payment, we will send you BPS Learn log in details, with the link and the password required, providing you access to BPS Learn.
I cannot make any of the sessions available.
If you cannot attend any of the sessions listed on BPS Learn contact us.
Please email [email protected] and we will discuss this with you.
How do I access the group session I have booked on to?
A meeting invite link will be sent out approximately seven days prior to the session you have booked onto.
If you have still not received a link two working days before the session, please check your junk/spam folders. If it is not within those folders, please contact us as soon as possible
Who can I reach out to for further support?
It is the applicant’s decision on who they reach out to for further support.
For example, outside of your usual practice supervision sessions, you may wish to arrange a session with an approved RAPPS Coaching Psychology Supervisor, to have a general discussion about your research, experience and practice and coaching psychology experience to help clarify your position and support your reflection(s) about submission.
There are also networks available which may be able to assist, such as the Division of Coaching Psychology (DoCP). A drop-in clinic with our Portfolio Advisor for those registered is available, and although the Portfolio Advisor is unable provide individual support, they can support with general questions in the preparation for submitting your evidence and documentation.
Would qualitative research be acceptable?
Yes.
There are many established methods used in research to investigate a problem or research in question.
I would like to know if the overall subject of my research report is considered a related discipline
This would be the responsibility of the applicant.
This would be the responsibility of the applicant to decide and make the argument within your submission about how it
relates to coaching psychology