In Focus: New take on education review

The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) has made new contributions to the debate around the General Optical Council’s (GOC) Education Strategic Review (ESR), which was launched in late July to gather views on a proposed update to GOC requirements for qualification as a dispensing optician or optometrist.

In August, ABDO released a statement that raised concerns over the GOC’s proposed changes, which it said created ‘a significant risk of inconsistent standards of education and lower standards of education.’ The GOC then released a response to these concerns, that acknowledged ABDO’s position and stated that ABDO staff and members had helped draft the new proposals as part of the expert advisory group.