Vantage point

Tim Ray is by his own admission an outsider to optics, but the introduction of compulsory CET has thrown him into the centre of one of the most acrimonious wrangles optics has seen.
He is not a willing participant in this optical cut and thrust and is keen to point out Vantage's impartiality on the issue of CET and educational policy in general.
'We don't want to become a player in this market and we don't have a political take,' he says. 'There is a misconception that Vantage has a say in how the CET scheme works. We want to get the point across that we don't have a position politically and we are independent of the optical industry. What we have done is built a system to meet the needs of this industry.'
He says Vantage's remit is to administer the CET scheme to the guidelines as set by the General Optical Council. 'We don't make the rules - we simply carry out what the rules say.
'Our role is very simple. It is to make sure each individual has an accurate record of their CET by the end of 2006, so that when the registrar looks at the record they see an accurate picture of each individual. That is what we have to deliver.'
And it's so far so good says Ray. About half of the 15,000 people on the register have activated their account on www.cetoptics.com so far. That's at a rate of about 400 to 500 people a week. Ray says that participation is at about the right level needed for the average registrant to attain the 36 points needed before the end of December 2006. But there are around another 7,000 people who have yet to log on to the site.
'I would make the point that if you haven't logged on yet the points are there,' he adds. The way the CET system works is that participants take part in CET, the provider registers the points on www.cetoptics.com and then the participant has to log on to confirm the points are correct.
'You have to register and set up your own account, you then have to go in and confirm that you did that CET and you would like to have the points on your individual record.'
The onus is on the provider to get the data right and input it into www.cetoptics.com.

upbeat about introduction
Despite talk of wrangles, Ray is surprisingly upbeat about the smoothness of the introduction of the scheme. He says he wouldn't describe the introduction of compulsion as negative but describes the reaction as a typical response to the change.
'You start off with complacency then you get denial and denigration. People will say "Everything is fine in optics, Vantage is crap, the GOC is crap", that's what you will hear then.'
Ray says he can sense where people are on that change curve by the way they talk and the opinions they espouse. But it is a progressive response and, Ray says, things move on. 'After that phase you get into confusion and chaos where people phone you up and say, "Just tell me again, how does this work?" That's because they realise that they have to do something different themselves,' he says. 'Then you go through to rejuvenation and renewal, this time next year, all being well, we'll be through to rejuvenation and renewal and people will be saying, "You know, that piece of CET last week was fantastic but that piece over there was rubbish."'
So where are we on the curve at the moment? 'Some people are in still in denial and denigration and we get emails and letters to that effect, some quite fantastic ones. A lot of people have moved on to the confusion and chaos stage where they will be ringing up all the professional bodies and the regulator and us to ask, "How do we do this?". That shows me that people are moving through, those people are where they should be.'
The fact that they are asking these questions demonstrates they now accept and are engaging with the process. That will continue and by this time next year he expects more probing questions to be asked such as the quality of CET provision.
Much of the controversy surrounding CET compulsion has centred around the mechanics of its introduction and Ray is candid about the fact that communication could have been better during the start-up phase. Being able to communicate to the market relies on a stable picture and Ray has some tough words for those groups that have lobbied for changes to the scheme.
'The lobbying that has gone on around changing and meddling with the rules hasn't helped anybody, that's my personal view. I don't think it has strengthened the profession and I don't think it has helped with the acceptance of the scheme. If it had all been left as it was, people would have moaned a bit and in a couple of weeks they would have been over it,' he says.
'What is clear to everybody is that the guidelines need to be written and left and implemented and then you review them, it's a project thing.'
On balance he says there is very little he would have done differently. 'A little bit more communication; you can never do enough of that. I guess we could have been a bit more visible,' he says.
'The frustration for the people at the GOC and myself is the lobbying that goes on, the continual attempts to try and change [the rules] when actually they are fixed. Everyone was involved, they know they are going to be reviewed in the future. You wait 'till then or otherwise you have continual adjustment and fiddling around the edges and it is not helpful to anybody.'
This situation has contributed to the confusion, with people not knowing what is going on, says Ray.
'That isn't necessarily the fault of the people who have been employed to implement the scheme - Peter [Coe] and Dian [Taylor]. It's primarily the fault of the Council and the people who lobby the Council to get things changed which is ABDO and the AOP and all those people.' Though, he adds quickly: 'They do it for right reasons I'm sure.'
Despite not having an executive decision-making remit in the provision of CET, Ray is an educationalist and has views on the quality of the education being delivered.
When asked if he thinks CET is too easy, he says Vantage's job is to manage the scheme rather than design it. However, he does agree that it isn't a healthy situation to have CET as a comprehension exercise that can be completed by anyone with the ability to scan the questions and pick the answers out from the text.
'Our brief has an element of reporting on quality but we don't have an audit role. My observations would be that within the distance learning environment you have got to define a better way of doing it. It's not my job to work that out, it's for the GOC when they review the scheme.' All interested parties will have an input to that review process at the end of the year.
Ray says there are many issues to discuss, especially with the use of online learning, which poses many questions about how you track what someone has learnt and what the educational outcomes are.
He expects different methods to be looked at, but the big question is how you score it. 'I've been in the distance learning business for 20 years and it is very difficult to come up with an effective model,' says Ray.
He suggests that a multiple choice question (MCQ) system has limited scope for effective learning and there are options to that. Some systems look for judgements that can't be taken from the text. You have to look at what the real outcome for the participant is rather than testing knowledge.
At best MCQs gauge if the participant has read the article and if they have retained something. 'In the worst case they have just gone through, picked out the answers and ticked the boxes.
'If you are getting pass rates of 90 per cent it is too easy. But if 90 per cent of people are passing there is a lot of knowledge out there.'
Even without changing the rules there are clearly ways in which CET can be made to be more effective, adds Ray. 'Who says the answers have to be in the text. I don't think it is written down anywhere that the answers have got to be in the text. So if it means that you have to go and refer to something and here is a set of five references, and work it out for yourself, you have done a bit of synthesis and done a bit a learning,' he says.
These are the kind of issues Ray believes the review of the scheme, expected towards the end of this year, will tackle.
'Everything will be looked at and I expect the bar to be raised in a number of areas and that will be one of them. All of these things will be looked at but they are for the GOC to determine.'
Ray seems bemused by the drama that has raged over issues such as the carry-over of CET points from the voluntary to the mandatory periods of the current scheme, but is happy to state the facts about what practitioners need.
'The GOC is not looking at how many points you have from the voluntary period. The only thing they are interested in is whether you have enough points in December 2006.'
So if you haven't brought over any points from the voluntary scheme, is that going to be a problem? 'I don't see any reason why it should, there are plenty of things [CET events] you can go and do,' replies Ray. He predicts there will be loads of events in the closing weeks of the scheme as providers seek to offer points to those people who haven't got around to earning their quota.

statements of credit
One of the services being implemented to head off that situation is the provision of CET credit statements to all those on the register. Ray says discussions on this are still taking place, but people should get a statement later this year. This will give them a running total of points on their account and provide a reminder that if they haven't started building their points total they need to start. At the moment 15,000 points are being registered each month.
It is clear that the profession is starting to come to terms with CET, given the level of participation and optician's own experience of CET activity. Ray says Vantage's technology has provided a powerful tool for the profession in meeting the GOC's requirements. All optometrists and dispensing opticians have a CET record available to them at any time and they have a team of people dedicated to making sure that record is accurate.
'They didn't have that in the past. Now they have a system that is easy to administer and use because they don't have to assemble bits of paper and post them off. It's entirely under their control and they have validation power over it as well.'
The crunch point will come at the end of 2006 when all of the points will be looked at, but Ray says what Vantage is trying to do is ease that point-earning and compilation process.
At the end of next year anyone who doesn't have enough points will be contacted by the GOC. They will be given three months to put that right and earn the points they need.
'The situation isn't to strike anyone off the record without due warning, it's to provide the option to get it sorted. Ideally everyone remains on the record and everyone has enough points.'
Whether that is the situation come the end of 2006, only time will tell.