In 2004 the Royal College of Psychiatrists made it clear that it was committed to increasing the involvement of service users and carers throughout psychiatric education. This has been mandatory since June 2005 and it has been a compulsory aspect of psychiatric training for schemes to demonstrate a meaningful involvement of users and carers in the training of psychiatrists.

The new Modernising Medical Careers agenda in the UK raises concerns about maintaining the standard of psychotherapy training (Mizen, 2007). In 1993 the Royal College of Psychiatrists made psychotherapy a mandatory rather than recommended work experience and there is now a competency portfolio outlining requirements for trainees. However, startling data have been revealed recently, showing that 91% of senior house officers did not meet the requirements of the Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych) exam regarding psychotherapy training and 23% were not even aware of them (Agarwal et al, 2007). the quality and variability of psychotherapy experience in training have been surveyed in several papers (Podlesjka & Stern 2003; Carley & Mitchison 2006; Pretorius & Goldbeck 2006), and some solutions to practical problems with its provision have been proposed, for example, consultation from a consultant psychotherapist, utilising feedback from trainees, and focusing on practicalities and logistics at a local level (Wildgoose et al, 2002; Mitchison 2007). However, little has been said about trainees' own experiences of undertaking supervised practice in psychodynamic psychotherapy. This paper discusses trainees' outlook on psychotherapy training schemes.

A recently established initiative, the Scotland Malawi Psychiatry Project (SMPP), has provided a unique opportunity for specialist registrars to combine a number of training objectives of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Experience in teaching and assessment of students or junior colleagues is an important part of higher training. A further key objective of the College is to highlight transcultural issues in psychiatry, but trainee exposure to cultural and ethnic diversity varies throughout the UK. The SMPP enabled a group of psychiatrists training in Scotland to participate in a 5-week undergraduate education programme in Malawi and gain important insights into and experience of transcultural psychiatry.

This paper aims to consider postgraduate psychiatric training in the context of New Ways of Working for psychiatrists in England. It summarises the impact of recent changes in postgraduate training and the major training implications of New Ways of Working. Finally, it outlines some broad principles that need to be considered for training when implementing New Ways of Working locally.

Workplace-based assessment is a core element of the changes introduced in Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), yet it has been sparsely researched in the UK and there are still psychometric and validity data needed to support its introduction. Supervisors and tutors are wary of it, but it could replace external clinical examinations leading to a Certificate of Completion of Training. The theoretical background of assessment in the workplace is ‘Miller's pyramid’ of competence in which the trainee progresses from ‘knowing’ (tested by paper exam), through ‘knows how’, to ‘shows how’ (tested by the Observed Standardised Clinical Examination), and finally ‘does’ (assessed in the workplace) (Miller, 1990).

We developed a programme to help newly appointed consultants cope better with the difficulties they may encounter in their new role. The course was run in a large mental health trust which had been formed by the merger of two trusts 3 years before, as there had been some concerns there about the newly appointed consultants floundering when it came to understanding how the trust and the National Health Service (NHS) operated.

Psychotherapy case discussion groups for trainee psychiatrists not only teach psychotherapeutic skills but also afford empathic peer support. We outline how case discussion groups were set up in such a way as to maximise their supportive functions, and describe the emergence of psychological competencies in response to this supportive framework. Four case discussion vignettes illustrate this process.

UK-based psychiatrists have the opportunity to work in low- and middle-income countries. the political climate is supportive, as evidenced by the recent Crisp report on ‘Global Health Partnerships: the UK Contribution to Health in Developing Countries’, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists volunteer scheme. However, many psychiatrists are unaware of ways in which they might contribute. In this article, we give examples of the diverse ways in which UK-based psychiatrists are already engaged in collaborative work overseas. We discuss some of the mutual benefits that such partnerships can bring and highlight the under-recognised benefits to the UK, both to the individual and to the National Health Service.