Students from schools across south west England took part in a taster day in April, designed to inspire them to consider a career in optometry.
The 50 pupils, from years 10 to 13, met academic staff from Plymouth university’s optometry programme, attended mini lectures on eye anatomy and visual processing, and had the opportunity to take part in a practical session using equipment in the optometry lab, including video slit lamps.
A much broader career
They also met current students, as well as practising optometrists from different settings, to highlight the range of opportunities and spread message that optometry is much broader career than people might think.
Alice Cottle, the module lead for clinical optometry skills in year one of the BSc optometry programme organised the day. She said: “Optometry is a hugely rewarding profession, and it was great to see so many young people enjoy learning about it. We want to inspire the next generation of optometrists and provide practical learning and opportunities for patient-facing activity to help achieve that.”
The Plymouth graduate added: “Our student satisfaction rating reflects the popularity of our approach, and we hope the pupils we met during this event will become the next generation of satisfied students in the future.”
Lucy Knock, Specsavers early careers manager, helped facilitate the day and gave a presentation on how the firm can support students through school and university.
Luke Serle, a pre-reg optometrist from Specsavers Plymouth Armada Way practice and another Plymouth graduate, joined for a Q&A session on what life as a pre-reg is like.
Good vision changes lives
Lucy said: “This event was a remarkable success and I want to thank the university for its efforts to inspire students to consider optometry as a career. It was fantastic to see the profession being showcased by Alice and her colleagues and Specsavers was pleased to be able to support the day, not least because our purpose is to change lives. We may have just done that for some of the young people during the day.”
More information on careers in optometry:
Your career path as an optometrist
Optometrist qualifies in double quick time
A day in the life of an optometry student