GOC report reflects lasting pandemic impacts

The General Optical Council’s (GOC) education annual monitoring sector report for 2021/22 found providers were still facing issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report provided insight into the 37 approved education qualifications delivered to 4,534 optical students between September 1 2021 and August 31 2022.

High street opticians were still experiencing ongoing effects regarding the supply of placements while numbers of non-progressing students were higher than normal due to mitigation measures such as teacher-assessed grades.

A failure to provide required placements resulted from the post-COVID recovery plans of devolved administrations while students and staff were still displaying ongoing physical and mental impacts from the pandemic.