A call for evidence will be published by the General Optical Council in December to kick off its Education Strategic Review.
Stakeholders will be asked what core skills and knowledge optometrists and dispensing opticians will need in the future as a result of technological advancements in the sector.
GOC director of strategy Alistair Bridge said: ‘This is an important project and we’ll only get it right if we have wide engagement across the sector. With the rate of technological change in the sector and the increasing opportunities for registrants to deliver enhanced services, now is the time for us to carry out a fundamental review of optical education to enable registrants to meet the needs of patients in the future.’
Content of education programmes and the GOC’s role in the assessment of students and quality assurance will also be queried.
GOC chair Gareth Hadley added: ‘The questions should be open ended and encourage people to look at the scopes of practice of optometrists and dispensing opticians and in what way these models can be extended and what implications they have for the registrants.’
The call for evidence will run for 12 weeks until March 2017.