From Optician to Optometrist: The Professionalisation of the British and Australian Sight‐testing Occupations

Abstract

ABSTRACT  The paper compares and contrasts the development of ophthalmic optics in Britain and optometry in Australia, both of which have achieved the status of accredited professions. It focuses on the issues which were important in each one's socio‐historicai development in order to highlight sociopolitical themes such as their relationship to the state and with potentially or actually competing occupations and professions. The paper argues that success in controlling refractive sight‐testing techniques and associated eye‐care skills occurred in different ways and to different extents despite the fact that Britain originally provided the model for the development of optometry in Australia.

Key words:

• Professionalisation
• History
• Great Britain
• Ophthalmology
• Optometry
• Ophthalmic Optics