The recent editor’s comment and Moneo column on the question of apprenticeships seemed to me to rather miss the point.
From an optometry perspective, degree-level apprenticeships should solve many of the problems that are perceived to exist within optometry, most notably depressed salaries, oversupply of training places (combined with undersupply of placements), and staff shortages in certain parts of the country.
The way degree apprenticeships work is employers will advertise for an apprentice optometrist or dispensing optician, recruit a suitable individual and proceed to train the individual over the following years.
There is seemingly concern that if apprenticeships to qualify optometrists and dispensing opticians come to pass they will be provided directly by employers with no external intervention or quality control.
Level 2, 3 or 4 apprenticeships are often run by large employers independently of third-party educators, for job categories like optical assistant, and, in previous decades, there was considerable disquiet that only large multiple opticians (initially Dollond & Aitchison, followed by Boots Opticians, Specsavers and Vision Express) had access to government funding to train their optical assistants.
The independent sector and even some large national groups, up to the size of Scrivens and Asda Opticians, without large scale training departments, were effectively excluded from government funding and therefore put at a commercial disadvantage.
This situation has changed since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, which taxes larger employers, who can draw down their levy payments to pay for apprenticeships in full, and essentially redistributes training funds to smaller employers who only contribute up to 5% of the cost of the apprenticeship (0% for 16 to 19-year-olds).
This has effectively opened up lower-level apprenticeships to every single optical practice whose needs can be satisfied by providers such as Training 2000 and Woodspeen.
It is hard to understand the concerns voiced that corporate optics is leading the way in apprenticeship development. The fact is only employers can develop apprenticeships and the so-called trailblazer groups comprise employers of all sizes, including the NHS and independent sector. Education providers are only invited to trailblazer groups as guests.
The sector should be grateful that large employers see fit to volunteer secretarial and other resources to enable the work required to be done.
On social media, there is disquiet that Specsavers might dominate the degree level apprenticeship market. Given that the green behemoth already provides around three-quarters of pre-registration optometrist posts and trains around half of all dispensing opticians, that would be nothing new, but the mix of input ensures no single employer can dominate. One can hardly blame large employers, who pay 0.5% of their payroll to the Apprenticeship Levy, for wanting to reclaim this money to pay for their training.
However, this requires them to agree an apprenticeship and have it approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and so far it seems the sector has not been able to reach first base.
Naysayers should be further assured that degree level apprenticeships for regulated professions must, by law, utilise the services of an accredited higher education provider to deliver the underpinning regulated qualification.
These have recently been set by the General Optical Council at level 6 for dispensing opticians (bachelors degree or Fellow of British Dispensing Opticians professional diploma) and level 7 for optometrists (masters degree level).
A quick search of the GOC register reveals there are more than 4,600 student optometrists and 1,100 student dispensing opticians. The training of future professionals through a degree apprenticeship route, given the cost of a four-year optometry degree or two-to-three-year opticianry programme, would divert around £30 million into the sector from government coffers each year.
This would save individual optometry students around £50,000 each in student loan debt and, given the majority of student dispensing opticians are employer funded, save employers, large and small, around £20,000 to £25,000 per trainee.
In the past, as today, many areas of the country have struggled to recruit optometrists and dispensing opticians. Despite forcing students to take pre-reg positions in coastal towns and other areas distant from the training institutes, once qualified and registered most practitioners migrated back to where they came from, depressing salaries in the university towns and leaving the problem of shortages unsolved.
Degree apprenticeships allow employers to recruit future optometrists locally to where they need staff and train them via a blended learning format, meaning they stay local. Usually, this involves studying mainly online and attending university perhaps one week a month to engage in practical and clinical learning.
This ensures the majority of optometrists, like dispensing opticians (who mainly already qualify through a blended learning route), are likely to remain where they are needed in the workforce once they qualify.
A degree apprenticeship for dispensing opticians could also shift the profession from diploma to degree level, a pre-requisite for employment in the NHS since Agenda for Change. This then opens the opportunity for research at masters and doctorate level and for the profession to be truly evidence based.