Actus writes: Accepting the value of experience

Hardly a month goes by it seems that the General Optical Council doesn’t consult on something, and most recently it has been asking the public, registrants, professional bodies and educators to comment on consensual disposal of fitness to practice cases and its draft policy on Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).

The Accreditation of Prior Certified Learning (APCL) and the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) between them allow colleagues moving up the career ladder, or across on to a new ladder, to get credit for their previous experience and qualifications.

This might give them exemption from the traditional course entry requirements (A-levels in the case of optometry), or certain subjects, modules or even whole academic years of study. For example, lab technicians with the level 4 SMC Tech qualification have had almost complete exemption from the first year of the dispensing course, needing only to do certain sections of the part one practical exam such as facial measurements.