About the WCSM Education Trust

The Spectacle Makers' Company (SMC) 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 for them other than to ensure that the spectacles issued to them were fit for use – hence the Company's name - and the Company's Book of Ordinances, approved by the King's Justices in October 1630, contains regulations governing the training of apprentices and the manufacture and sale of spectacle frames and lenses.

During the late eighteenth century, and for much of the nineteenth, the SMC, in common with many of the other London Companies, lost touch with its craft, but the re-engagement began in the 1890's when the Company introduced its own formal examination for opticians (nowadays termed "optometrists"). These were first held in November 1898, and examinations for sight testing were added in 1904. The Company also encouraged the study of optics through evening classes at the Northampton Polytechnic (now The City University), and paid the salary of the lecturer in visual optics. Separate examinations for dispensing opticians followed in 1956.

The initials FSMC (Fellowship of the Spectacle Makers' Company) denoted a recognized professional qualification, rather than membership of a livery company, a qualification that continued to be awarded to those who passed the Company's examinations until 1980, when the SMC co-founded the College of Optometrists, and handed over responsibility for the professional training and examination of ophthalmic opticians to it. Six years later, the Company's other professional qualification, SMC(Disp), also passed into the history books when it helped to establish the Association of British Dispensing Opticians.

From then on, the Company's attention reverted to those who actually make spectacles, although it had begun to take an active interest in the training of optical technicians in 1960. In the late 1990's, the Company also became involved in the training of those who often provide the main link between the optometric practices and the manufacturers, the optical practice support staff, by introducing a year-long correspondence course for them.

In 1997, the Company became a founder member of the Optical Sector Steering Group, designed to develop a coordinated programme of training programmes and qualifications, and thus a "career ladder", for the optical industry and professions within the United Kingdom.

The Company's representatives have played a key role in developing National Occupational Standards at Levels 2 and 3 for optical manufacturing and optical retailing, and the Company itself gained accreditation as an awarding body from the Regulatory Authorities for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who had been established by the Education Act of 1997.

It now has the following five qualifications which are in the process of reaccreditation from the National Qualifications Framework to the Qualifications and Credits Framework under the regulation of OFQUAL, the body established by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to regulate qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland:

• The Level 4 Certificate for Optical Technicians
  (holders of this qualification are entitled to put the initials SMC(Tech) after their names)
• The Level 3 Certificate in Optical Production Processes
• The Level 2 Certificate in Optical Production Processes
• The Level 3 Certificate for Optical Practice Support Staff
• The Level 2 Certificate for Optical Practice Support Staff

It is hoped to add a sixth qualification, The Level 2 Certificate in Optical Customer Service (Spectacles) to that list very shortly. Other additions may follow, as and when employers signify the need for them.