ABDO has commented on the apprenticeship standard consultations survey by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
ABDO head of strategy, Alistair Bridge, said: “The current distance learning modes of education delivery available for dispensing opticians already align with apprenticeship education format, with practice-based learning delivered alongside theoretical education via an established institute.
“A trainee dispensing optician qualifying through the proposed apprenticeship route, would still need to meet the GOC’s requirements for education and training in the same way as any other route to registration, this can be evidenced in the knowledge, skills, and behaviours within the standard.
“A higher-level apprenticeship of this nature will not lead to any diminution of standards, it will simply offer the profession an alternative route to registration.”