Careers › People & society

How to become a Counselling / Educational Psychologist

Supports people through life challenges and learning difficulties - a related but separate route from clinical psychology.

This needs more than the degree

Follows the same Master’s-plus-internship route as clinical psychology (bachelor’s → Honours → an HPCSA-accredited Master’s → internship → HPCSA registration), but without the extra 12-month community service year clinical psychology requires. Still realistically six or more years past matric, and Master’s places are just as limited.

What does a Counselling / Educational Psychologist actually do?

More about this career

Counselling psychologists help people work through life challenges, relationships and general mental wellbeing (not necessarily diagnosed mental illness); educational psychologists focus on learning, development and behavioural difficulties in children, often working closely with schools. Both are separate professional categories from clinical psychology, each with their own accredited Master’s programmes.

Where this degree can take you

  • School Counsellor
  • Learning Support Specialist
  • Relationship/Life Counsellor
  • Student Wellness Counsellor

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • English
  • Life Sciences (helpful)
  • Mathematics (helpful for the research/stats components)

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the programmes we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 1 of 5 programmes

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each programme links to the page it came from.

Programmes that lead here

5 programmes at 5 universities. More are added as we verify them.

University of Cape Town

BA / BSocSc (with Psychology as a major)

Humanities · 3 years

UCT Faculty Points Score 450 out of 600 (band a)

  • English: 50% if it is your Home Language, 60% if it is your First Additional Language
  • Life Orientation: 50%
  • Mathematics: 50%
  • NBT – An NBT Academic Literacy result of Lower Intermediate or Basic normally rules an applicant out. UCT’s own page says a Psychology major specifically accepts Maths 50% OR a Proficient NBT Quantitative Literacy result instead - we show the Maths route above since it’s the one we can check from marks alone.

Band A (guaranteed offer) is an FPS of 450. Band B (likely offer) is a WPS of 450 - the WPS adds a 0-10% disadvantage factor that we cannot work out from your marks, so we only check you against Band A. Band C (380) applies to redress categories only. You’re admitted to the general BA/BSocSc (same entry point as humanities-generalist) and choose Psychology as a major from second year. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise.

Source: View the official page (uct.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of KwaZulu-Natal

From an older documentNot fully verified

BA / BSocSc (with Psychology as a major)

Humanities · 3 years

UKZN APS 28 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • One listed subject – One subject from UKZN’s designated list at level 5.

UKZN does not list Psychology as its own admission line - you’re admitted to the general BA/BSocSc (shown here) and choose Psychology as a major from second year. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. The published APS range is 48-28. This comes from the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure, the most recent official source we could find. UKZN had not published a 2027 table when we checked, so treat these as 2026 figures pending a 2027 update. Applications go through the CAO.

Source: View the official page (studyatukzn.ukzn.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of Pretoria

Not fully verified

BA (with Psychology as a major)

Humanities · 3 years

UP APS 28 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language

UP’s official table does not list Psychology as its own admission line - you’re admitted to the general BA (shown here, APS corrected to the NSC/IEB-completed figure of 28 per the Humanities Yearbook) and choose Psychology as a major from second year. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. Most UP closing dates are 30 June; Veterinary Science closes 31 May. Grade 12 applicants apply with their final Grade 11 results.

Source: View the official page (drupalwebprod-files.up.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of South Africa

BA in Psychology

Human Sciences

Unisa APS 20 points

  • English: 50%

Re-read 2026-10-04 against Unisa’s live qualification page: APS, language/Mathematics percentages and the 17 August - 9 October 2026 window all match. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise. NSC with Bachelor’s Degree endorsement required. Maximum 8 years to complete. Confirmed current for the 2027 intake: Unisa’s own pages state its 2027 application window as 17 August - 9 October 2026.

Source: View the official page (unisa.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of the Witwatersrand

Not fully verified

BA (General, with Psychology as a major)

Humanities · 3 years

Wits APS 36 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language

Wits does not list Psychology as its own admission line - you’re admitted to the general BA (confirmed unchanged by a direct fetch, 2026-10-02 spot-check) and choose Psychology as a major from second year. This is the undergraduate entry point only - see the career page for the Honours/Master’s route required to actually practise.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every programme above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?