Support staff training receives official boost

Accreditation of a new qualification for receptionists will help the UK's optical industry provide the trained workforce they need to 'compete in the European and global markets'.
This week the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (SMC) announced that its Level 2 Certificate in Optical Practice Support had been accredited to the National Qualifications Framework.
The SMCsaid that the announcement marked its continued commitment in establishing and sustaining the lower rungs of the optical career ladder.
It follows the SMC's accreditation, in 2001, as an Awarding Body by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, when its Certificate for Optical Technicians Ð SMC (Tech) Ð was accredited to the National Qualifications Framework at Level 3.
Those who hold the qualification 'Certificate in Optical Practice Support' Ð and those who employ them Ð can be confident that the training they have received has been rigorously assessed by the National Regulatory Authorities, said an SMC statement.
It added that those who qualified would possess a nationally recognised qualification that would stand them in good stead in the integrated European and global markets.
Accreditation also allows employees to apply to their local Learning and Skills Councils for financial support for their studies, and gives employers who encourage their staff to study for and achieve this qualification an easy means of demonstrating to their customers a high quality workforce.
Training for the qualification, which lasts one academic year, is currently delivered by City & Islington College through a day-release course, and by the SMC itself via a correspondence course.
Larger employers may apply to the SMC for a licence to prepare their own students for the written examination in June by conducting in-house training to the SMC syllabus.