European Commission study explores professions for possible Common Training Frameworks

The European Commission has published a study supporting the identification of professions that could potentially be considered for an extension of automatic recognition through Common Training Frameworks (CTFs) under Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications.

The study examined professions across the EU with the aim of identifying those where the development of a CTF could be feasible. 

Psychology was among the professions considered in the study. It was included in an initial list of 25 professions identified as potentially suitable for further assessment but was not included among the ten professions* selected for more detailed mapping. The study concludes that the feasibility of developing a CTF for psychologists was considered limited, primarily due to divergences between Member States in regulation, training and scope of professional practice.

In the context of the European Commission’s wider work on skills portability and professional mobility, EFPA has highlighted the importance of maintaining appropriate safeguards when facilitating the cross-border mobility of psychologists.

In its response to the Commission’s Skills Portability Initiative, EFPA stressed that European mobility can be supported through common standards such as EuroPsy, while emphasising that academic degrees alone should not be equated with professional authorisation. Education, postgraduate training, supervised practice and formal professional authorisation should remain clearly distinguished, with continuing professional development supporting the maintenance of competences.

EFPA also underlined the significant diversity in the regulation, scope of practice and training pathways for psychology across Europe, and the need to ensure that efforts to simplify recognition do not compromise professional competence, ethics, client safety or public trust