Simon Jones: The Apprentice

I haven’t quite decided what to make of this week’s major news that a group of optical employers wants to establish an apprenticeship for the role of optometrist.

It’s still very early days and we don’t yet know what the degree-level scheme will look like, but reaction from within the industry has been decidedly mixed. A scour of optometry forums and Facebook groups shows the wide gamut of opinion. Some have decried it’s ‘devaluing the profession’, while others view it as a good opportunity to represent what the modern-day optometric coalface looks like. I don’t like sitting on the fence, but I’m not sure there is a right and a wrong in this case.