Practical examiners

Job title

Practical examiners

Job description

About us

The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) is the professional body for dispensing and contact lens opticians in the UK. We have around 8,500 members in the UK and overseas. Our role is to support and represent members, promote awareness of their roles, enable them to develop their careers and to advance the profession.

ABDO plays a key role in developing and implementing eyecare policy across the UK sector and in ensuring eye care services are designed, commissioned and delivered in a way that embraces the expertise of dispensing opticians. In order to do this, we are involved in a range of organisations that work together to support and deliver the best possible eye care for patients.

About the role

ABDO examinations are offering an exciting opportunity to support future generations of dispensing opticians, recruiting for practical examiners in both ophthalmic dispensing and contact lens practice.

Practical examiners, ophthalmic dispensing and contact lens practice 

Experience, knowledge and skills

• Must be FBDO qualified and registered with ABDO and the GOC
• Must be fully qualified and on the register for a minimum of 2 years
• Must have passed their FQE’s on the first or second attempt
• Working in practice or academia

Candidates will be asked to attend an online 30-minute interview. If successful they will complete a short distance learning course covering the details of the practical’s in preparation for attending the practical exams and learning how to competently assess each section with a supervising examiner. Once qualified they would also be able to do practice visits and mark portfolio submissions online with additional training.

Examiners and probationary examiners are expected to work a minimum of 10 days spread over a 2-year period to ensure their skills remain up to date. Practical exams run the month of January, 1 week in April, the months of June and July and 1 week in September and take place at the NRC in Birmingham.

Qualified examiners are paid a locum rate per day of £156 (currently under review), but all travel, accommodation and sustenance expenses covered for both probationary and qualified examiners.

Apply with a copy of an up-to-date CV to Dean Dunning ddunning@abdo.org.uk

Extensive training and full moderation is delivered to ensure consistency and fairness to all learners sitting the assessments.

Equal Opportunities

ABDO promotes equality and diversity in all aspects of its work. We aim to ensure, through our staff recruitment and selection processes that we encourage applications from all groups represented in the wider community at a local, national, and international level.