International Recognition of Optometric Continuing Education

Continuing education has a long-standing and internationally closely connected tradition in German optometry. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, professional conferences were held with significant cross-border participation.
 

For example, in 1927, Dr. Walter Mindt, then Director of the German School of Optics and Phototechnics—a predecessor institution of today's Optometry degree program at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (BHT Berlin)—presented his paper entitled Eyesight under Modern Traffic Conditions in Large Cities at the International Optical (B.O.A.) Congress in Oxford.¹

Similarly, a continuing education trip to London organized by Peter Abel in 1937, attended by approximately 250 German participants, demonstrates the profession's early international networking. Exchange in the opposite direction was equally well established: for example, the British optometrist A. E. Turville presented his Turville Infinity Balance Test at the 2nd Congress of the German Society of Optometry (DGO) in Berlin in 1950.²

These examples illustrate that optometric continuing education in Germany has always been internationally oriented. Today, however, a structural challenge has become increasingly apparent: the lack of mutual recognition of continuing education credits.

While COE credits are well established in Germany, the United States uses COPE-accredited continuing education (CE) credits, and the United Kingdom operates a General Optical Council (GOC)-approved Continuing Professional Development (CPD) system. Despite broadly comparable educational content and quality standards, these systems of recognition are not yet mutually accepted on an equivalent international basis.

For optometrists, this results in a considerable administrative burden when seeking national recognition of continuing education credits earned abroad from professional associations and regulatory authorities, particularly following participation in international conferences and other continuing education activities.

A previous attempt by the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO) to harmonize continuing education credits across Europe did not achieve lasting success. Given the continuing internationalization of optometry and the increasing global interconnectedness of eye care, a renewed initiative now appears both timely and necessary.

A coordinating role could be assumed by the World Council of Optometry (WCO), which has a long tradition of international collaboration and was founded in Berlin in 1927 as the International Optical League (IOL).

The development of transparent and harmonized recognition frameworks would represent an important step toward a more efficient, internationally integrated, and future-oriented continuing education system for the optometric profession.

References

[1] Sutcliffe, J. H. (1927). The Dioptric Bulletin: The Transaction of the British Optical Association, Printed and published by the Council of the British Optical Coucil, at Clifford’s Inn Hall, London, E.C.A.

[2] Geyer, H.U. (1988). Ein Leben für die Optometrie – Peter Abel und seine Zeit. H.H. Geyer, Fachveröffentlichungen, Fellbach.