Education and Training of Laboratory Technicians

Abstract

A Committee on the Education and Training of Laboratory Technicians was set up by a conference convened in 1946 by the Association of Scientific Workers, the Association of University Teachers and the British Association of Chemists. Among the bodies now represented on it are the Institute of Physics, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Biological Council, the Institute of Medical Laboratory Technology and the Science Masters' Association, in addition to the three Associations that convened the conference; there are also representatives of industry and a number of senior laboratory technicians on the Committee; representatives of other organisations concerned with the problem, including the Ministry of Education, are being co-opted. The chairman of the Committee is Prof. F. R. Winton and the honorary secretary is now Dr. H. J. T. Ellingham (secretary, Royal Institute of Chemistry). The attention of the Committee has been directed essentially to that important class of technicians, which includes laboratory stewards and, at the highest level, laboratory superintendents, whose work is vital to the maintenance and operation of research laboratories in industrial organisations, research associations and academic institutions and of laboratories for the instruction of students in universities, technical colleges and schools. Their work involves experience of techniques derived from a number of branches of science and technology; most of them are to be regarded not as potential chemists, physicists, biologists, etc., but as potential first-class laboratory technicians. So far, however, few courses have been provided for the training of technicians of this type, nor is there any qualification in their own field to which they may aspire. The Committee is therefore engaged in preparing syllabuses for the certificate and diploma stages of a general course of training for such laboratory technicians, based on proposals put forward by a sub-committee consisting of the laboratory technician members of the Committee. It is hoped to start a trial course early in 1948. In the meantime, it is understood that a representative group of laboratory technicians who have been associated with the work of the Committee are taking steps to constitute a professional qualifying body similar in many respects to the Institute of Medical Laboratory Technology.