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Too short transition periods, lack of post-qualification: psychology students feel that the reform of their degree program is under massive pressure
Photo: Jens Schierenbeck / picture alliance / dpa
Mathias Reul faces a difficult decision.
In 2021 he wants to complete his psychology studies in Marburg and become a psychotherapist.
But now Reul is unsure which way to take to fulfill his dream.
The reason for the doubts: Health Minister Jens Spahn has had the training path for psychotherapists turned inside out - not exactly for the better, as Reul thinks.
"The result of the reform is a total disappointment," says the 24-year-old.
A reform with improved conditions for aspiring psychotherapists was overdue - experts agree.
Because the previous training is often pure exploitation:
The psychology graduates have to work in clinics for around three years after completing their five-year studies.
On average, they get 650 euros a month for this, but many receive nothing at all.
They already help in psychotherapeutic consultation hours or when assessing individual patients:
They have to complete 1200 hours in the practical year and 600 hours in an institution recognized by the social insurance agency, which can also be a clinic or an outpatient clinic.
In addition, there are another 600 hours of practical training, then they even treat patients themselves, although they have to be supervised.
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After three years of training at the earliest, the license to practice medicine follows, i.e. the permission to treat people.
"We are at the mercy of the clinics because without the three years of practice we would not get a license to practice psychotherapy," says student Mathias Reul.
So far, the legislature has let the hospitals do their own thing: Before the reform, there were no regulations as to how the clinics had to pay the prospective psychotherapists.
The hands of the unions were tied because the profession was not officially mentioned at all in the clinics' personnel regulations.
Ten years to start working
So-called "cooperation agreements" regulated the conditions - and since the demand for an apprenticeship position was significantly greater than the supply, many students had no choice but to accept contracts, some of which were unpaid.
Quite a few even went into debt in order to be able to finance the three-year training, which costs an additional 50,000 euros, says Reul.
All the greater were the expectations of the reform.
The training should be accelerated, structured more clearly and paid better.
The solution: a completely new course in psychotherapy.
This leads to the license to practice medicine immediately after the master’s degree.
Graduates would then already be finished with their vocational training after five instead of eight years - but would still have to add a five-year further training course in order to be able to become self-employed as therapists.
During this time there is a minimum payment of 1000 euros per month.
“I feel like I'm being kidnapped.
The conditions are not getting better at all, "says Mathias Reul about these plans, that is" a worsening improvement. "
Reul and all other psychology students still have until 2032 to finish their old training.
However, this means that in five years' time graduates of the psychotherapy course will be working side by side with psychology graduates in one institution and doing the same tasks.
"Some are approved and with a salary, others from the old training system without," says Reul.
And a change to the new study and training model would not be a solution, but "just the choice between plague and cholera".
Because what the reform entails is downright chaotic: Anyone who decides on the new psychotherapist degree must inevitably face the new five-year further training.
Those who complete their previous master’s degree in psychology may no longer be able to train to become a psychotherapist: it is foreseeable that the therapy training courses previously organized by private institutes will soon no longer be offered, Reul fears.
The longer a current student needs to get to a master’s degree, the lower the chance of finding a suitable training institute afterwards.
Either, says Reul, he could soon work unpaid for three years in a German clinic or add another seven years of training - on conditions that are not necessarily better.
"Our teachers therefore strongly recommend that we go into the old training system while it is still possible," says Reul.
»Readjust urgently«
The consequences of the reform are not only causing criticism from students, but also from large parts of the industry.
"Of course we welcomed a reform," says Dieter Adler, chairman of the German Psychotherapist Network (DPNW): "However, more construction sites have emerged than have been closed, and countermeasures urgently need to be taken."
Hanna Christiansen, professor at the Philipps University of Marburg, questions the innovations because of the high time required.
»We introduced the new course in psychotherapy especially, and then there should be an additional five-year further education?
That's incomprehensible, ”she says.
It is undisputed that more practical relevance in the course will be good for future therapists.
But this reform must also be financed.
"There is still a hiccup between the federal states and the federal government as to who pays which costs," says Silvia Schneider, spokeswoman for the clinical psychology department of the German Society for Psychology.
Because the new course will be quite expensive for the universities: »We cannot set up a course if it is not even clear who will pay for it in the long term.
And we need clear commitments that the money will also go to the institutes. "
Unresolved financial issues
There have been discussions at the University of Hamburg for a long time.
Around 150 psychology students started their new bachelor's degree here in November.
For a long time, the university and the Senate could not agree on the financial security of the reforms in the coming years - there are still some question marks in the room.
If the financing is not clarified as quickly as possible, it cannot be ruled out that the reformed course will have to be stopped again soon, fears Lars Schwabe, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Movement Science at the University of Hamburg.
The students in the old Hamburg psychology degree are also worried: because their bachelor's degree does not match the application for the new therapy master's degree, they are requesting the opportunity to qualify.
"Around 350 students are under enormous pressure, their previous career plans would suddenly be worthless under the new plans," says Banu Dalmis of the Psychology Student Council.
But so far it is unclear how these re-qualifications will be financed.
On Tuesday evening, the topic is on the agenda in the science committee of the Hamburg citizenship - but the responsible Senator Katharina Fegebank (Greens) has signaled little willingness in advance to take up the concerns of the previous students.
The transition periods are "sufficiently generous to complete academic and practical training," Fegebank told SPIEGEL, "so that there is no fundamental need for action with regard to the requirements for post-qualification."
All of these problems were foreseeable, says DPNW chairman Adler: “It's embarrassing.
If you had talked to the universities to see if they could even afford it, the reform would look different. ”Adler also fears that the chaotic situation will mean that less interested people will be able to choose the new training path in the future - and the need for therapists will grow always on.
In any case, psychology student Mathias Reul is disappointed with the current developments.
Because despite the reform, nothing really seems to change in psychotherapeutic training.
What annoys him is that the next generation will not be any better than him, says Reul.
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