Actus writes: Appreciable apprenticeship apprehension

Optician Online (October 19) reported on a change.org petition to stop optometry apprenticeships. Within two days, it had reached nearly 6,000 signatories, which although impressive, meant that 80% of GOC registrants had failed to sign it at the time of writing.

The petition’s author and the voluminous discussion suggested that apprenticeships in some way dumb down the profession, however, what did not emerge from the partisan, elitist and protectionist forum was the truth.

Firstly the apprenticeship is pitched at level 7, Master’s degree level, so higher than the level 6 Bachelor degree programmes completed by the majority of optometry graduates currently.

The petition and its signatories also fail to understand that whoever provides the education and training (they fear the large multiples will rather than universities), apprenticeship regulations require that the end point assessment, the means by which an apprentice optometrist would finally enter the register, has to be conducted by a separate organisation. While this contradicts the current nonsensical GOC thrust to have a single accountable provider of both education and assessment it means that in reality the end point assessor is likely to remain the College of Optometrists, which will continue to promote the high standards they have guarded for so long.