Customer Service Statement

Our aim is to enhance the career prospects for Optical Technicians and Optical Practice Support Staff...

By providing them with a thorough knowledge and understanding of the principles and theories that underpin their roles in the optical industry and the optical profession.

The Benefits of an SMC Qualification

Award of an SMC qualification can open up a deeply satisfying career helping to improve the quality of life for the visually impaired.

Optical Technicians will be joining a key industry with a proud record of technical development, expertise and, above all, high standards, and by encouraging them to learn about their craft and to become highly skilled and proficient in their role as technicians, the SMC will enhance their prospects of advancement. Many holders of its Level 4 Certificate for Optical Technicians have gone on to secure managerial appointments in the optical industry.

Optical Practice Support Staff will receive a thorough grounding in the theories and practices that underpin their work, which will allow them to deal with patients in an assured and confident manner and set them at ease before they are seen by an optometrists or dispensing optician. Achievement of an SMC Qualification will enhance their prospects of advancement to supervisory or practice management positions.

Holders of some SMC Certificates may alternatively exercise their right to claim partial exemption from the Association of British Dispensing Opticians' normal entry requirements, and go on to train as Dispensing Opticians. One or two may even wish to take their personal development a stage further and, by building on the confidence that success in the SMC's examinations has given them, qualify as Optometrists (Ophthalmic Opticians).

Accreditation

SMC qualifications are widely respected within the optical industry and profession throughout the United Kingdom, and the Irish Republic, but applicants are advised that they have been accredited only for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Equal Opportunities Policy

The WCSM Awarding Body is committed to giving everyone who wants to gain a qualification an equal opportunity of access and assessment in line with current UK legislation and EU directives. Action will be taken to:

• promote practice and procedures that give equal opportunities to everybody, regardless of their race, sex, disability, age, or marital status.
• remove all direct and indirect practices and procedures that discriminate unfairly.
• widen access to our qualifications to include people who are under-represented.
• set qualification standards according to equal opportunities best practice.

The WCSM Awarding Body will deliver:

• advice that is sensitive to candidate's needs.
• assessments that do not discriminate against anyone.
• documents that are easily understood, and that do not reflect a stereotyped, offensive or biased attitude.
• promotional material that reflects the diversity of candidates.
• quality assurance that applies fair processes.
• information to candidates about how to obtain and use the Equal Opportunities Policy and the Complaints and Appeals Procedure.
• qualifications that will:
  - be explicit about what is to be assessed.
  - include assessment that is fit for purpose.
  - allow where possible a variety of forms of assessment.
  - be free from offensive or stereotypical language and images
• assessment that will make reasonable adjustments for candidates with particular assessment requirements and, where appropriate, grant special considerations for unforeseen circumstances such as sudden illness.

A copy of this policy will be issued to all examiners and moderators, and is readily available to anyone else who might want one.

The WCSM Awarding Body will ensure the effectiveness of this is policy is reviewed annually.

Customer Service Statement

In accordance with the Awarding Body's Equal Opportunities Policy, which is set out on the previous page, all candidates will be treated with dignity and respect, and be given every encouragement to sit the examinations.

All will be assessed fairly, including those with particular assessment requirements. Strict procedures are in place to ensure consistency in the standard of examination papers over time, and fair assessment.

It is the Awarding Body's policy to communicate in English.

Requests for guidance and information about syllabi, preparation for the examinations, the examinations themselves and fees will be met within 5 working days. Every effort will be made to ensure that all documents and guidance given to students will be clear, and relevant to their needs.

The syllabi for the examinations leading to awards of the WCSM's qualifications will be reviewed at regular intervals, to ensure that they continue to reflect current practice and meet the needs of employers.

Preparation

Candidates may prepare themselves for the examinations leading to the WCSM's Awards in any way they choose. Those without access to a local training provider may, however, wish to avail themselves of the help offered by the Training Committee of the SMC. Further information may be obtained by telephoning 020 7236 2932 or 020 7236 8645 or through email to administrator@spectaclemakers.com.

Fees

Please see our Fees page.

Examination Venues

It is the Awarding Body's policy to try to reduce the cost to candidates and/or their employers of sitting its examinations by offering the former the option of an examination venue other than London.

Other than London, the Awarding Body will arrange for the examinations to be held in Wales and Northern Ireland. If there is sufficient demand to make it viable, the Company will also open examination venues in the North of England, Scotland and the Irish Republic, but candidates opting initially for one of these latter three options will be warned that there is no guarantee that examinations will be held there, and that they must therefore also indicate a preference for one of the three guaranteed venues.

The venues selected will be recognized teaching institutions (Schools, Colleges of Further Education, Universities etc) or the headquarters of professional organizations which are familiar with the requirements for staging a formal written examination. Other venues may be selected, but very much as the exception and only after approval by the Awarding Body.

It is also possible for a candidate to take the examinations for the Level 2 Certificate in Optical Practice Support and the Level 2 Certificate in Optical Production Processes online at their place of work.

Exam Applications

SMC examinations will be advertised in Optician, Optometry Today and Dispensing Optics three months in advance. Potential candidates will be invited to apply to the SMC Office for a registration form within the next four weeks. Such forms will automatically be sent to those known to the Office to be on a course of preparatory training.

All application forms should be returned, with payment for the examination fee, to the SMC Office in Apothecaries' Hall by no later than two months before the date of the examination. Whilst late applications may be accepted, failure to meet that deadline may result in candidates' choice of venue being severely curtailed.

Each form will be accompanied by a copy of the Awarding Body's Examination Handbook & Regulations, and will require the candidate to certify that he has received that copy, and that he or she has read and understood the regulations governing SMC examinations.

All applications will be acknowledged within 14 working days.

Claims for Reasonable Adjustments

The Awarding Body will look sympathetically on all requests for reasonable adjustments to its assessment methods from those with disabilities or other impairments, such as sufferers of dyslexia and those confined to wheel chairs, and will do everything practicable within the prevailing circumstances to facilitate their sitting of the examination, and without additional charge.

Such claims must be received by the SMC Office in Apothecaries' Hall at least one month before the examination, and be accompanied by proof of the disability or impairment in the form of a medical practitioner's certificate and, where appropriate, a certificate from the employer.

They will be considered and assessed by the Awarding Body, and a response issued within two weeks.

Claims for Special Consideration

A candidate who arrives at an examination venue more than 30 minutes after the start of the examination will be denied entry. If the Awarding Body subsequently judges that there were mitigating circumstances behind that late arrival, it may, after reviewing the evidence, allow the candidate to sit the examination at the next available opportunity free of charge. Requests for such consideration must be lodged at the SMC Office in Apothecaries' Hall within 7 days of the examination.

A candidate who attends and completes the examination on time, but feels that his or her performance was impaired by an unforeseen and unforeseeable change in personal circumstances occurring before the examination that seriously affected his or her ability to prepare for it, may petition the Awarding Body within 7 days after the examination. Such a petition must be accompanied by supporting evidence, including where appropriate, documentation from the employer and/or GP.

Receipt of a claim for special consideration will be acknowledged immediately, and the Awarding Body will endeavour to provide a definitive response within a month, and preferably alongside publication of the examination results.

Aegrotat Awards

A candidate who is prevented for illness or other circumstances beyond his or her control from sitting an examination will, on production of evidence from a medical practitioner and employer to support the claim, be allowed to resit it at no additional cost at the next scheduled opportunity. The WCSM does not make aegrotat awards.

Complaints

A candidate (or an employer) who wishes to complain about some aspect of the Awarding Body's assessment procedures, whether the perceived error be one of omission or commission, should submit the complaint in writing (giving as much detail as possible) to the SMC Office in Apothecaries' Hall, as soon as he or she feels aggrieved.

All correspondence from a complainant will be acknowledged on receipt, and the Awarding Body will do its utmost to return a definitive reply within a month.

Enquiries

Enquiries concerning any aspect of the WCSM's awards or the Awarding Body's policies and procedures should be addressed to the SMC's office in Apothecaries' Hall. Contact details are set out on the front cover of this pamphlet, and the Awarding Body will aim to respond within a month.

Enquiries about examination results must be lodged with the Awarding Body within one month of the date shown on the letter notifying those results. They will be acknowledged immediately with a request for a fee, and a definitive answer given within one month of receipt of that fee, which will be refunded should the enquiry show the Awarding Body to have been at fault.

Where the outcome of an enquiry brings into question the accuracy of other results, the Awarding Body will take immediate steps to protect the interests of all candidates who sat the paper in question by reviewing their results in the light of findings on that enquiry.

Appeals

An appeal against examination results must set out the grounds for the appeal clearly and in detail, and should be lodged with the Awarding Body at the SMC Office in Apothecaries' Hall within a month of the date shown on the letter notifying the student of his or her result; the contact address will be on the letterhead. Where the appeal arises out of dissatisfaction with the Awarding Body's response to an enquiry, then it must be lodged within two week's of the date of that response.

The appeal will be acknowledged immediately, with a request for a fee, and a definitive reply sent with a month of receipt of that fee. The fee will be refunded if the appeal is upheld.

In the first instance, appeals will be referred to all those concerned with setting and marking the paper. If the candidate is not satisfied with their response, the appeal will then be considered by a group of serving and retired university professors who are members of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers, but who will include two independent arbiters in their deliberations. If the appellant is still not satisfied, the appeal will be referred to a totally independent review panel, whose findings will be considered final. Again, in each case, the Awarding Body will aim to respond within a month.

Where the outcome of an appeal brings into question the accuracy of other results, the Awarding Body will take immediate steps to protect the interests of all candidates who sat the paper in question by reviewing their results in the light of findings on that appeal.

The Award of Certificates

The Awarding Body's examinations are held in June and December, and it will endeavour to promulgate results by the end of July and January respectively.

Successful candidates will receive an invitation to attend the formal presentation of certificates, which is held once a year in Apothecaries' Hall, Black Friars Lane, London EC4 in mid-October. The invitation and includes a buffet lunch. Presentations are made by the Master of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers, who is accompanied by members of the Court of Assistants.

Certificates are posted out within a week of the ceremony to those who wish to receive their certificates "in absentia".

Replacement of Incorrect or Damaged Certificates

A request to replace a damaged or incorrect certificate will be actioned as soon as the original has been returned to the SMC's Office in Apothecaries' Hall, and the applicant has paid the administrative charge involved.

Replacement of Lost Certificates

A request to replace a lost certificate will be acknowledged immediately, but no action will be taken until the Awarding Body has obtained proof of the claimant's identity and satisfied itself as to the circumstances occasioning the loss.