Supervision Guidance
This guidance has been developed in consultation with a wide range of sector stakeholders. It is not intended to be prescriptive but reflects the current consensus on the characteristics of good practice in the supervision of pre-registration clinical and experiential learning. It is for providers to determine, and justify, what represents safe and effective supervision for learners to meet the expectations of the General Optical Council (GOC).
Introduction
All learners must be registered with the General Optical Council (GOC) whilst enrolled on GOC-approved optical qualifications and must be supervised by full registrants whilst undertaking patient-facing activities, commonly termed “supervised practice,” when conducted in an ophthalmic workplace.
This is a legal requirement enshrined in Standard 9 of the General Optical Council's Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians. Student registrants are also required to ensure that they know who is supervising any activity and ensure that they are aware and available when it is taking place, as described in standard 8 of the General Optical Council’s Standards of Practice for Optical Students.
For qualifications starting prior to 2023, the expectations relating to supervisors were described in the qualification handbooks, Supervision Handbook, and College of Optometrists and the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) qualification regulations and guidance. With the publication of the GOC Education and Training Requirements in 2021, these were superseded, and the responsibility for determining and overseeing supervision arrangements was formally devolved to qualification providers. To support consistency across the sector, Supervision Guidance relating to patient- facing learning of preregistration optometrists and dispensing opticians was developed and published by the SPOKE Knowledge Hub in 2023. This guidance was reviewed in 2026 by sector representatives in the light of the need for agreement on a benchmarking approach for course team staff: student ratios, and to include consideration of the supervisory needs of trainees undertaking specialist registerable qualifications – Contact Lens Opticians and Optometrist Independent Prescribers.
In parallel to the development of the original SPOKE guidance, members of the Sector Strategic Implementation Steering Group (SSISG) collated feedback and queries from the sector in relation to the practicalities of supervision under ETR.
These inputs have been integrated and developed to produce the comprehensive guidance and practical information presented here, for those interested in the supervision of learners undertaking any of the four registerable optical qualifications.
Principles of Supervision
Practical experience of undertaking new tasks and skills is a pre-requisite to developing the tacit knowledge and skills required for safe and effective practice. This principle provides the rationale for the GOC requirements for patient-facing experience in the optical professions. However, effective supervision is required to ensure that:
- patient-facing learning experiences are safe, for both patients and learners
- experiential learning is successful in reinforcing appropriate (and identifying and eliminating inappropriate) behaviours and skills
- efficient experiential learning is maximised through repetition coupled with guided reflective practice
- the learner is able to progress to undertaking tasks of increasing complexity and risk
- the learner transitions successfully to independent practice.
The tiles below provide links to additional information and guidance about supervisory expectations under ETR.