Introduction

The British Psychological Society is the leading organisation for setting standards in psychological testing in the UK. The Society directs the work of its Psychological Testing Centre (PTC) through the Committee on Test Standards whose role is to set, promote and maintain standards in testing.  Whilst firmly rooted in the UK, the reach of the PTC is global evidenced by interest shown from over 70 countries.

Objectives

The PTC provides information and services relating to standards in tests and testing for test takers, test users, test developers and members of the public, and includes a register of over 11,000 qualified test users.  Increasingly, registrants are non-UK resident, and so a special project was set up to investigate the extent of international interest and inquiry into PTC services.

Methodology

The practice of the PTC was reviewed to understand its key delivery functions of particular interest to non-UK residents. Data was gathered to structure a profile of international interest. Principle sources ranged from website hits, office enquiries, and numbers of registrants, collated over the period of a year.

Results

Key activities of international interest were found and categorised into:

• Guidelines and best practice statements on standards for the construction, use and availability of tests
• Competence-based test user certification and registration in occupational, educational and forensic settings
• Access to 150+ test reviews in summary or full as reviewed against the EFPA Review Model for the Description and Evaluation of Psychological Tests
• Access to the  list of tests which have met benchmark criteria for the award of a Test Registration Certificate

Conclusion

It is possible to set standards in psychological testing for a single country, yet still be of general use across borders.  Clear links have been made between ITC, EFPA and BPS sources to retain this universal applicability.