All new College supervisors for both CLiP and Scheme must comply with the GOC's expectations under the ETR. From 1 July 2026 the previous supervisor handbook for the Scheme no longer applies. The College wants to make sure supervisors understand their role and have the support they need to help students and trainees learn safely and effectively.
All College supervisors must:
be current registrants with the relevant regulator (GOC, GMC, HCPC, NMC)
There are two types of supervisor and these have different titles within CLiP and the Scheme.
Practice Educational Lead (CLiP) or Principal/Joint Supervisor (Scheme)
Only optometrists can be Practice Leads or Principal Supervisors. In this role, you’re responsible for supporting the overall development of the pre-registration optometrist and making sure their clinical work is safe and effective as they work towards registration.
To take on this role, you’ll need to show that you have experience supervising across all required learning outcomes (CLiP) or competencies (Scheme). If you don’t yet have this experience, you can still do the role if you have a mentor who is already approved at this level.
liaise with the practice owner to ensure that the required facilities, equipment and other resources are made available
meet regularly to review progress and support action planning
act to enable the learner to integrate effectively into the practice team
be on the premises and able to intervene when a student or trainee is in practice
support the learner in arranging the required breadth of clinical experiences and preparing for (and learning from) assessment
ensure that other supervisory team members are aware of learner needs and current levels of experience
ensure that the learner understands the need for them to adhere to GOC standards, including those relating to supervision
Task Supervisor (CLiP) or Additional Supervisor (Scheme)
Optometrists or members of other ophthalmic professions can be Task or Additional Supervisors. You do not need to have prior experience in supervision to do this role, as the Practice Lead or Principal Supervisor will have overall responsibility. You will be able to work with the student or trainee to teach them or supervise them doing tasks which are within your scope of practice.
oversee and sign off clinical activities undertaken
provide feedback and guidance on clinical skills and behaviours to support learner development
be on the premises and able to intervene when a student or trainee is in practice
ensure you are aware of the learners levels of experience, in order to judge the amount of support and oversight any particular task requires
liaise with the Practice Lead or Principal Supervisor about learner needs and capabilities
Do I meet the requirements to supervise?
The simplest way to find out whether you can supervise in either role is to use our eligibility checker:
Can I be a CLiP Supervisor?
Answer a few questions to find out your eligibility.
This uses the CLiP terminology, so if you want be a Principal Supervisor on the Scheme, say you want to be a ‘Practice Lead’. If you want to be an Additional Supervisor on the Scheme, say you want to be a ‘Task Supervisor’. You will also need to undertake Scheme instead of CLiP training.
If you have limited experience of supervision, have not taken a student through all the learning outcomes/competencies or if you have not supervised for more than five years, we ask you to have a suitable mentor in place. If this is set up, you can still take on a Practice Lead / Principal Supervisor role.
This is what we expect from a mentoring arrangement:
the mentor will need to have supervised at least one pre-registration optometrist on CLiP / Scheme for Registration from start to finish ie full range of outcomes or competencies
this experience needs to be from the last four-five years
they do not need to be in the same practice as you. It would be preferable to have someone in the same area, but a distance arrangement is fine if that is required
we suggest that you and the mentor set up an introductory meeting and a short weekly meeting or call to discuss progress. This is mainly for the Practice Lead/Principal to raise any questions arising from work with the student as they occur
the mentor should be set up with similar access to the student’s records as you have eg CLiP Portal access to your student if it’s CLiP
This course is the first part of a two-part course for those aspiring to become a supervisor responsible for trainees on the Scheme for Registration and students on CLiP.
This is the second part of a two-part course for those aspiring to become a Principal Supervisor for trainees on the Scheme for Registration and students on CLiP.
This course outlines what you need to know to become a College-approved supervisor for a CLiP student and how it differs from College’s Scheme for Registration.
This course course outlines what you need to know as a supervisor to support students under the Scheme for Registration (SFR) and how it differs from CLiP supervision.