Proposed Refresher Program - Request for Feedback

We want to hear from you on the College’s proposed refresher program.

Why is the College creating a Refresher Program?

Amendments to the College’s Registration Regulation came into effect on July 1, 2024, and the new regulation states that individuals who fall into one of the following three categories must complete a refresher program in order to maintain, transfer to, or be granted a certificate of registration with the College as a Registered Optician (RO):

Registered Opticians who want to maintain their RO status but who have not met the currency requirement.
Inactive opticians who wish to change back to RO status but who haven’t had recent practice experience (e.g. out of province).
Intern Opticians whose education or examinations are no longer current, and who also lack recent practical experience.

What Refresher Program is the College proposing?

The College’s proposed refresher program has three levels, which have been tailored based on the length of time a registrant has been out of practice or has not maintained their currency requirement:

Level 1: Registrants who have been out of practice/not current for a short period (under 3 years)
Level 2: Registrants who have been out of practice/not current for a moderate period (3-6 years)
Level 3: Registrants returning after a more extended absence (6-10 years)

Registrants who have been out of practice for 10 years or more will be required to undergo a Competency Gap Analysis (CGA) prior to returning to practice.

Depending on the level, registrants will engage with some or all of the following components:

Review of Standards and Practice Guidelines: To ensure familiarity with current professional expectations, and to account for any changes since the registrant last practiced.
Jurisprudence: A review of some day-to-day practice requirements. These modules, which include written materials and assessment, were developed by the COO and are available on the COO website at no cost.
Core Competency Modules: A refresher on practice skills that form the core competencies of opticianry practice. These modules were developed by the National Alliance of Canadian Optician Regulators (NACOR) to align with the National Competencies for Canadian Opticians. The modules, which include written materials and assessment, are available on NACOR’s website.

Additional key features of the proposed program include:

All modules and requirements are completed online and are available on demand to ensure convenience and efficiency.
Priced at cost-recovery levels to ensure accessibility.

Details of the Proposed Refresher Program

The following chart provides a detailed overview of each level of the proposed refresher program. The chart also identifies those who will be required to undergo a Competency Gap Analysis instead of completing a refresher program, due to a lengthy passage of time since they were last actively practising.

	Required For	Components	Cost
Refresher Level 1	Opticians returning from Inactive Status (0 to under 3 years)	Review Standards of Practice and Practice Guidelines (SOP), Code of Ethics. Complete one module (written materials and assessment): Jurisprudence: Record Keeping	None
Refresher Level 2	Opticians seeking to maintain currency (3 to under 6 years since current). Opticians returning from Inactive Status (3 to under 6 years). Applicants seeking initial registration (3 to under 6 years since program/exam completion).	Review SOP, Code of Ethics. Complete three modules (written materials and assessments): Jurisprudence: Record Keeping Dispensing Contact Lens #2 Dispensing Eyeglass #2	$100
Refresher Level 3	Opticians seeking to maintain currency (6 years or more since current). Opticians returning from Inactive Status (6 to under 10 years). Applicants seeking initial registration (6 to under 10 years since program/exam completion).	Review of SOP, Code of Ethics. Complete six modules (written materials and assessments). Jurisprudence: Record Keeping Dispensing Contact Lens #2 Dispensing Eyeglass #2 Anatomy Critical Thinking Optics	$250
Competency Gap Analysis	Opticians returning from Inactive Status (10 years or more). Applicants seeking initial registration (10 years or more since program/exam completion).	Complete a virtual competency gap analysis (CGA). The CGA will help determine any gaps in the individual's knowledge. Based on the assessment, they will be assigned modules to bridge the gap in knowledge.	$700

Reasons why the College is proposing this Refresher Program

The proposed refresher program has been designed with the following key considerations in mind:

The College’s public protection mandate: The College’s primary function is to protect patients by ensuring that registered opticians are delivering safe, ethical and competent care. The refresher program is aimed at making sure that when the College displays someone’s status on the public register as “Entitled to Practice”, the public can trust that the optician’s skills and knowledge are current
Accessibility and efficiency: The College also took care to propose a program that would be both cost and time effective for applicants and registrants to complete.

Other factors that were considered in the design of the program include:

Different situations, different levels. Each level of the refresher program takes into account how long it has been since the individual has last practiced.
Cost & Time. The cost of the refresher program has been minimized to cost-recovery level. NACOR will be administering the majority of the modules and the College will be utilizing a free module from our Jurisprudence tool. Importantly, under the previous regulation, any individual who was out of practice for 3 years or more automatically had to undergo the competency gap analysis at a cost of $1000 upwards. In addition, the individual’s file needed to go to the Registration Committee for review, a wait time of approximately 8 weeks.
Ease of access. All components of the refresher program can be done virtually and at the individual’s own pace. Each module is offered virtually and consists of two parts: a video plus a multiple-choice test that needs to be passed.
Planning. Individuals can plan ahead as to what is needed to return to practice. This will also assist registrants in making an informed decision around going inactive versus staying active and using the refresher program to top up their currency hours.

How can I provide feedback?

Please click here to complete the survey by 12am on August 25, 2025. Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback.