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Seneca College offers a part-time continuing education opticianry program

Seeing a clear future

Ioana Danciu was a teacher in her native Romania specializing in Romanian language and literature. But, she reasoned, once in Canada there wouldn't be much demand for her skills and knowledge.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2007-08-01 ]

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SenecaVision Clinic manager and Registered Optician Philip Lui conducting an examination.

And in any event, Danciu says, in fluent, idiomatic English, she was ready for a career change. She knew she wanted to enter a field related to medicine, but ruled out working in a hospital or clinical setting. Instead Danciu chose opticianry, the regulated profession of dispensing glasses, contact lenses and low vision aids to the public.

To pursue her chosen discipline Danciu selected Seneca College, studying part-time beginning in September 2003.

According to Linda Wren, program co-ordinator in the Faculty of Continuing Education at Seneca, the college's CE opticianry program is the only one in the province and takes four years on average to complete. Georgian College in Barrie has a full-time program.

There's one intake a year at Seneca, and the college accepts between 70 and 75 students. Classes are made up of slightly more women than men, and students can pay their tuition as they go, with courses costing about $300 on average.

Applicants need a high school diploma with Grade 12 credits in math, English and a science. They also have to pass an admission test, says Wren, who also points out the part-time program usually has more applicants than it can accept. Typically, Wren says, the students in her opticianry classes are well into adulthood, rather than young people just leaving high school. Danciu, for example, is 32.

The math and science requirements are necessary to cope with the technical demands of program, and the English is required because opticians will be dealing with the public.

"It is a technical type of program and you are working with people, so the communications skills have to be there," Wren says.

A certain amount of dedication is also required. Two nights a week Danciu commutes from Kitchener, where she lives with her husband and works full time managing a retail outlet of a large optical chain. Although, she says, some semesters she was able to attend class at Seneca all day Sunday, so "that would save me a trip."

Other students in the program at Seneca travel even farther than Danciu. "I've had people come in from Niagara Falls, Cambridge, (and even) Ottawa," Wren says.

As well as the average of four years that it takes to complete the opticianry program at Seneca, students must also fulfill its practicum requirement of 1,000 hours working under the supervision of a licensed optician. In Danciu's case -- as for other students -- her work in the Kitchener store is credited against the practicum requirement.

Once they've completed their training and the 1,000 hour practicum -- including fitting 250 pairs of eyeglasses and 20 pairs of contact lenses -- they are eligible for registration by the College of Opticians of Ontario.

As for the demands of the program -- apart from any commuting there might be - Danciu says she always liked science and math, so the academics don't faze her. "To take the courses that I do at Seneca, I find them doable."

She hopes to finish her studies next summer, but what she'll do when she's fully licensed remains to be seen. However, she points out, "It (opticianry) has a very, very wide selection of work opportunities."

She's right, and her timing could hardly be better. "There's a shortage of opticians in the province," Wren says. "(Opticianry) is quite lucrative depending on where you are."