The BIOS PDF includes guidance on how to navigate and use the PDF. 91% of respondents agreed that this guidance was clear and that they found it easy to map their current skills and experience to the framework. This evaluation therefore suggests that the PDF provides an effective structure for reflection and aligns with professional development expectations. Specific comments made by respondents included that ‘the self-evaluation form helped me to identify things that I need to work on’ and ‘self-evaluation was easy to use’.

There were also high levels of agreement (>80%) with statements such as ‘using the BIOS framework helped me to visualize/structure my professional development path and ‘the BIOS framework prompted me to consider development areas I had not thought about before’.

Although overall the responses were positive, caution should be taken when interpreting the results, given that there is potential evaluation bias as students were required to use the PDF as part of a mandatory assessment. There were some responses that need further consideration and possible additional investigation: 27% reported some confusion or ambiguity and 36% required external assistance when using the framework. However, no explanatory comments were provided, making the causes of these responses unclear. In addition, around 18% of respondents expressed disagreement or a neutral response on some ‘perceived value’ questions, but again there were no additional explanations to elaborate on these responses without explaining why. Future evaluations should explore whether these relate to career intentions (intention not to pursue orthoptics as a career), assessment context, or limitations within the PDF itself. Some responses suggested that the PDF was lengthy and initially overwhelming, warranting further exploration.

Following on from this initially positive feedback relating to the BIOS PDF, future work will now move towards a larger evaluation of the framework that includes clinicians, students and support workers from across the UK.