Tinpot Predictions - A new note

[Giggy of Telford]

Tinpot Predictions will be taking another week off next week, I have 5 important exams next weekand was told last week what grades I need this year to get the University course I'm after. Long story short my initial reaction was .

[ambersalamander]

No probs Giggy, and don't worry- you're not the only one on this forum with big pressures at uni, so we understand

Good luck... you've got the brains for it!

[Giggy of Telford]

Exams are all done....for now atleast.

Maths, Chemistry & Further Maths all seemed to go ok, Biology & Physics I'm unsure how they went, both could vary from being brilliant to being total disasters.

Tinpot Predictions should be back to normal for next week.

[bh]

Best of British Giggy, hope you get the results you want!

[coops]

Good luck Giggster.

Where are you hoping to go to University, and is there any Tinpocity nearby?

[Giggy of Telford]

Thanks, I'm not sure when the results actually come through.I was hoping to do medicine but the grades I need are very high , I'm not sure where I'd go yet as often with medicine you go wherever they'll actually take you.

The weird thing is there is a lot of demand for people to do jobs involved with it but the University courses are still very over-subscribed because there just isn't enough places to supply the job vacancies.

Anyway, as I said hopefully the prediction league will be back for Saturday.

[ambersalamander]

There's a similar situation with clinical psychology, which is what I'm heading for, hopefully, eventually. There's a huge shortage of clinical psychologists and several places on the clinical psychology doctorate courses that one needs to do in order to qualify that simply aren't being filled. This is because in order to get onto the doctorate course one needs to work for a year as an assistant psychologist, a job that currently has seventeen applicants per place, and I for one have been trying to get one for nearly four years

[bh]

I'm sure you'll get there in the end Sal. Just think positively, all the hard work you're doing is bound to have the desired result !!

[ambersalamander]

What hard work?

[bh]

Oh, sorry mate, I thought you had to work hard in your chosen profession, like i do!!

[malxscfc]

Am I missing something here, Sal? Or is it the system?

There's a huge shortage of clinical psychologists

yet, further down the production line a qualification has to be

a job that currently has seventeen applicants per place

.

SURELY there must be a way to accelerate the process?
To extend the factory analogy, can't they buy a new machine to "make" people qualified? i.e. change the system: send people abroad for experience; set up (say) a unique, intensive Diploma in the subject/practice to accelerate people through; have job-sharing so 2 people gain the experience;
or is the bottom line simply that there isn't enough funding?

In which case, depressing as it may be, could they arrange a special Student Loan for applicants, and lower the wage for the Assistant ( ) so that they could afford to employ more of them?

[ambersalamander]

Assistant wages are already shamefully low, although it depends who they're employed by. Most are NHS and low paid, although some other London/Surrey employers are currently paying up to 24K, which is very high for that particular position. One problem is that fewer Assistants can be employed because there simply isn't enough demand or enough places for them. There are only so many that can be employed- if there were, for example, job shares, then neither of the people sharing the job would gain within the year of placement enough experience to qualify him or her for the doctorate course. Not all clinical psychologists' jobs would work well with an assistant in post. Yes, it is a bit of a farce- the bottleneck is so ridiculous that (so I've heard) they are going to change the system slightly so that those who are in receipt of a relevant Masters degree (like the one I shall be completing next year) are accepted onto the doctorate course without experience. However, I only heard this from a friend (who is doing a psychology masters degree for this very purpose), don't know where she got the info and haven't seen it anywhere else.

bh said:

Oh, sorry mate, I thought you had to work hard in your chosen profession, like i do!!

I will do, but as you can see above I have not yet achieved my chosen profession!

All right, I do work hard sometimes -on Friday I ran an entire day's training for my staff team with no experience whatsoever in these matters, and it took weeks of preparation- but the annoying thing is that as I'm a deputy manager nobody particularly notices whether I work hard or not, and no amount of hard work in this particular job is going to bring me any closer to achieving my dreams, so... meh.

[malxscfc]

ambersalamander said:

Assistant wages are already shamefully low, although it depends who they're employed by. Most are NHS and low paid, although some other London/Surrey employers are currently paying up to 24K, which is very high for that particular position. One problem is that fewer Assistants can be employed because there simply isn't enough demand or enough places for them. There are only so many that can be employed- if there were, for example, job shares, then neither of the people sharing the job would gain within the year of placement enough experience to qualify him or her for the doctorate course. Not all clinical psychologists' jobs would work well with an assistant in post. Yes, it is a bit of a farce- the bottleneck is so ridiculous that (so I've heard) they are going to change the system slightly so that those who are in receipt of a relevant Masters degree (like the one I shall be completing next year) are accepted onto the doctorate course without experience. However, I only heard this from a friend (who is doing a psychology masters degree for this very purpose), don't know where she got the info and haven't seen it anywhere else.

bh said:

Oh, sorry mate, I thought you had to work hard in your chosen profession, like i do!!

I will do, but as you can see above I have not yet achieved my chosen profession!

All right, I do work hard sometimes -on Friday I ran an entire day's training for my staff team with no experience whatsoever in these matters, and it took weeks of preparation- but the annoying thing is that as I'm a deputy manager nobody particularly notices whether I work hard or not, and no amount of hard work in this particular job is going to bring me any closer to achieving my dreams, so... meh.

All sounds rather odd.

It's rare in life that there's not a balanced Pyramid system.
If, as you suggest, there's a great demand for fully-qualified Clinical Psychs, but little or no need for Assistants [except in order to get promoted] then I suspect the Assistant role will have to change.

Sounds like having a need for more Commisioners of Police, and loads of Constables wanting to get there, but there just aren't enough (intermediate) Inspector-positions available since they are unwanted but oversubscribed as a means to the end.

Yours, confused.

Either way, I suspect the imbalance will be addressed, or become an untenable position.
Hope you get sorted within the timescale you want, though!

[ambersalamander]

The problem, Malx, is that in order to employ an assistant, you need a qualified psychologist for her/him to be assistant to. If there aren't enough psychologists, then you can't be an assistant to nobody-in-particular, can you?

[Col ISIHAC.]

If there's not enough chiefs to satisfy those wishing to be indians; then I expect that the whole thing will implode upon itself, and clinical psychology will go the way of Latin!


A classic case of the lunatics having taken over the asylum - a silent, bloodless coup If that is indeed the case, then given that the lunatics are in charge, what need is there for loads of psychologists anyway?







I'll get me coat...