Western Education's PhD | Field of School and Applied Child Psychology

Our onsite and full-time MA/PhD program in Education Studies in the Field of School and Applied Child Psychology is committed to the development of professional psychologists who promote the educational and psychological well-being of children, youth and their families. It prepares students with theoretical, research and professional training to support psychological practice with children, youth and families in a variety of settings including schools, mental health, private practice and research contexts.

The combined MA/PhD degrees meet the academic requirements of the College of Psychologists of Ontario for registration as a Psychologist (PhD). We are accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association. If you are applying for the program at the PhD-level an equivalent MA is required.

Please see our MA program requirements to determine equivalency

Help children and families

CPA Accredited

Work in schools or private practice

Research with field experts

What I like about my PhD program is the sense of community and companionship that are quickly established. The passion that each PhD candidate exudes for their work is nothing short of inspiring.

My PhD degree program helped me engage with the world in a more critical and nuanced capacity, and as an instructor for BEd students, this has also equipped me with more practical means to engage with my students and future educators.

- Kenan Omercajic, Current Student

Beyond the program details

Admissions

Required:

A Master’s degree (with thesis) in the area of Clinical, Cognitive, Counseling, Developmental, Educational or School Psychology;
Normally an "A" standing (80%) or equivalent in previous graduate work.
Although separate admissions are required for the MA and PhD in School and Applied Child Psychology (SACP), the two levels are one coherent program. Students graduating from the SACP MA program will be given first consideration into the PhD.
When accepted into the PhD program, the transcripts of candidates who did not take the MA in School and Applied Child Psychology are assessed. Students are required to complete the MA courses for which they do not have equivalence as part of their previous MA program to ensure that they have learned the skills and content taught in the MA program. These courses are listed in their admissions letter. If they believe that they have fulfilled the requirement, they may appeal to the Program Chair for a re-assessment of their previous coursework.
There are core courses that must be taken at the Master’s Graduate Level. If you received a Master’s degree from a different university, and these core courses are not on your transcript, you may need to take additional courses. Students who enter the PhD without Ethics in Psychological Practice MUST take it during the first year of the PhD program.
Given the requirement of breadth when registering as a psychologist, students must also meet the 5 cognate (core content areas identified below) requirements in their upper senior undergraduate (3 ^rd or 4 ^th year) or in their graduate program. Most of these requirements (with the exception of one; historical and scientific foundations of general psychology) can be obtained through the existing MA/PhD program. If you have not taken a course that meets the criteria for the historical and scientific foundations of general psychology, you will have to obtain that credit prior to your internship placement.

The five core content areas are:

Biological bases of behaviour (e.g., physiological psychology, comparative psychology, neuropsychology, psychopharmacology)
Cognitive-affective bases of behaviour (e.g., learning, sensation, perception, cognition, thinking, motivation, emotion),
Social bases of behaviour (e.g., social psychology; cultural, ethnic, and group processes; sex roles; organizational and systems theory),
Individual behaviour (e.g., personality theory, human development, individual differences, abnormal psychology), and
Historical and scientific foundations of general psychology (this content area can be fulfilled with a one-semester, senior undergraduate course).

NOTE: Students short-listed for the PhD in Educational Studies in the field of School and Applied Child Psychology may be required to participate in an online interview.

Tuition

Funding

Technology

Program information

Description

Milestones

Qualifying Paper

The doctoral Qualifying Paper represents one of the major milestones in the School and Applied Child Psychology program. The purpose of the Qualifying Paper is to demonstrate the student’s level of knowledge in a particular area of research and to contribute to the knowledge in the field. The paper should consist of a literature review on a topic of the student’s choice. It is expected that the literature review will culminate into a strong research question. It is strongly recommended that the student choose a topic related to their dissertation topic in order to make clear the theoretical and methodological foundations of the topic of interest prior to writing their dissertation.

It is expected that students will complete their Qualifying Paper within the first year of the program. The paper will be read by two people: the student’s supervisor and a second reader. Each reader will determine independently if the paper should be deemed as a pass or fail. The readers will also provide feedback on the paper upon request. If one or both of the readers do not believe the paper is of passing quality, the student will have two weeks to revise the paper and resubmit.

Given that the Qualifying Paper is a Milestone, it not show up as a course in your Student Centre. Once you have passed your Qualifying Paper, it will appear at the end of your transcript under the Milestones area.

Please refer to the PhD Qualifying Paper Guide (PDF) for details on the Qualifying Paper, registration, submission, formatting, and grading. When you are ready to submit your Qualifying Paper, you will need to fill out the Request for Administration of PhD Qualifying Paper Form (PDF) and provide the Graduate Programs Office electronic copy of your paper.

Thesis Proposal and Presentation

Following successful completion of the Qualifying Paper and when the candidate is ready to begin work on the thesis, the Supervisor, at the candidate's request and after consulting with the faculty members concerned, will formally appoint a Thesis Advisory Committee. The committee will consist of the Supervisor and at least one additional faculty member.

Within the student's second year, candidates must submit a written research proposal to their Thesis Advisory Committee, and make an oral presentation to the committee in which the research problem, theoretical framework and methodology are explained and satisfactorily defended. The presentation will be open to all members of Graduate Faculty and to all graduate students. The committee must approve both the written proposal and the oral presentation before the candidate will be allowed to proceed. Once Ethics has been cleared, the student must submit a copy of the letter received from Ethics.

If the proposed research involves human subjects, the student has to receive ethics approval from Western University Research Ethics Board before the research begins. Please see the Research Ethics page for more information. Ethics clearance may be completed before the student completes the Thesis Proposal Presentation.

When the Thesis Advisory Committee is satisfied with a candidate's written proposal and the oral presentation made to the committee, the student may submit the proposal for approval to the Graduate Programs Office. The candidate submits one copy of their proposal and the PhD Thesis Proposal Approval form to the Graduate Programs Office for approval by the Associate Dean, Graduate Programs.

Only after all approvals have been obtained may the candidate proceed with the research and the preparation of the thesis under the guidance and review of the Supervisor and the Thesis Advisory Committee.

Thesis

When the thesis has been completed and approved by the Supervisor and the Thesis Advisory Committee, the candidate may submit the thesis for examination. The candidate submits the Application for Thesis Examination (PDF) and the Doctoral Thesis Supervisor Approval (PDF) forms to the Graduate Programs Office. The forms have to be submitted a minimum of seven weeks prior to the defence date. The thesis is uploaded to Scholarship@Western, Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository, a minimum of six weeks prior to the defence date.

The examination includes a Public Lecture which provides both a valuable means of disseminating research findings within the academic community, and an opportunity for all graduate students of education to participate in and contribute to the scholarly discourse of the university. In accordance with the appropriate regulations, the public lecture will be advertised in the University's Western News and on the University's web site, and be open to all members of the community. The examination normally follows within 24 hours of the lecture.

Details of the examination process are located in Section 8 of Graduate Regulations.

Timing/delivery

Courses

Potential Supervisor

Public Disclosure

Our PHD Students

Typically 1 male to 8 females, 28.2 years old at time of admission in 2024, 28.6% identify as diverse

Applications, Acceptances and Withdrawals

Criteria	2015 - 2016	2016 - 2017	2017 - 2018	2018 - 2019	2019 - 2020	2020 - 2021	2021 - 2022	2022 - 2023	2023 - 2024	2024 - 2025	2025 - 2026
Applied to our PhD program	17	20	19	18	19	30	28	17	19	23	28
We offered admission to	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	11	9	8
Accepted offer of admission	8	7	5	8	8	8	8	9	8	9	8
External applicants admitted to program	2	1	4	5	4	0	1	3	3	0	0
Withdrew from Program	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Our Graduates

To date. 96% of our PhD graduates have either become registered psychologists or are currently on supervised practice within Ontario. Our graduates work in a variety of settings, including schools, independent practice, children's/community mental health centers, and in youth justice. The job placements and career paths of the graduates from the SACP program's first several cohorts demonstrate the program's ability to train psychologists who work in both school and community settings. Psychologists are in high demand and our graduates had no difficulty obtaining employment upon graduation

Our MA Students

Typically 1 male to 7 females, 17% identify as diverse

Applications, Acceptances and Withdrawals

Criteria	2019 - 2020	2020 - 2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025	2025-2026
Applied to our MA program	28	44	56	51	55	83	101
We offered admission to	12	15	14	15	12	14	12
Accepted offer of admission	6	8	8	10	10	9	10
Withdrew from Program	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

Our combined MA./PhD program was designed to meet the requirements of the College of Psychologists of Ontario for registration as a Psychologist (PhD). We were accredited in Spring of 2023 with the
Canadian Psychological Association. Our next accreditation visit is in Fall 2025.

Office of Accreditation - Canadian Psychological Association

141 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 702
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5J3
Phone: 1-888-472-0657 (toll free in Canada); (613) 237-2144
Email: accreditationoffice@cpa.ca