The Company's Support
for its Craft today

The Spectacle Makers’ Company (WCSM) was founded to improve the quality of life for the visually impaired. At the time of its incorporation in 1629, however, there was little more that could be done other than to ensure that the spectacles issued to them were fit for use – hence the Company’s name.

Today, the most tangible expression of its support for its "craft" is to be seen in the qualifications that it awards to optical technicians and optical practice support staff:

• The Level 4 Certificate for Optical Technicians
  (NOTE: holders of this qualification are entitled to put the initials SMC(Tech) after their names.)
• The Level 2 Certificate in Optical Production Processes
  (work has begun to redesign a Level 3 qualification in Optical Production Processes)
• The Level 3 Certificate for Optical Practice Support Staff
• The Level 2 Certificate for Optical Practice Support Staff
• The Level 2 Certificate in Optical Customer Services (Spectacles)
• The Level 2 Certificate in Optical Customer Services (Contact Lenses)

Based on National Occupational Standards which the Company’s representatives helped to develop, most of these qualifications were originally accredited to the National Qualifications Framework (NCF) that was created by the Learning and Skills Act of 2000, after the Company itself had been recognized as an awarding body by the Regulatory Authorities for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which had themselves been established by the Education Act of 1997.

In late 2009 the WCSM became one of the first awarding bodies to obtain the licence to operate within the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) which replaced the NCF when OFQUAL was established as the new English Regulatory Authority by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act of 2009. All WCSM qualifications have since been accredited to the QCF as unitised awards.

In August 2010 the WCSM obtained recognition as an awarding body from the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

At the end of 2008 the Company began to offer "e-assessment" as an alternative to a formal written examination for those wishing to qualify for the Level 2 awards.

Those wishing to sit the examinations leading to the Company’s qualifications may prepare themselves to do so in any way that they wish. However, the WCSM Education Trust offers a programme of distance-learning packages for those who lack other sources of training.

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Throughout its history, members of the WCSM have played (and still play) a prominent role in optical research, and they have been responsible for many of the innovations and improvements in the field of vision science that we now take for granted. However, it is only recently that the Company has begun to bestow its own mark of recognition on such work. It now presents gold, silver and bronze medals to recognize outstanding contributions to research into the causes and treatment of visual impairment.