ECOO has published a new position paper confirming that the European Diploma in Optometry (EDO) fully aligns with the World Council of Optometry (WCO) Competency Framework for Optometry, launched in March 2024.
ECOO has welcomed the WCO framework as a milestone for the profession worldwide and recognised the value of aligning its own qualification to this global reference. The updated framework reflects ECOO’s vision of a common, robust standard of optometric education in Europe, raising educational quality, strengthening countries’ abilities to deliver global vision care strategies, expanding scope of practice, and supporting the free movement of citizens and professionals across Europe.
For more than 15 years ECOO has supported its member countries with the Blue Book, a unique resource comparing education levels and scopes of practice across Europe. The WCO’s previous model of four levels of optometry was an essential tool in this work, helping countries benchmark and develop their scope of practice. To ease the transition to the new competency-based model, ECOO mapped the earlier WCO levels to the new WCO/WHO training duration estimates.
Building on this foundation, ECOO established an expert working group under its European Qualifications Board (EQB) to carry out a detailed mapping of the EDO competencies against the new WCO framework. This exercise was also part of the EQB’s regular review of the EDO syllabus and competency standards.
ECOO is proud to confirm that the European Diploma in Optometry now fully aligns with the WCO Competency Framework for Optometry—ensuring that the EDO continues to serve as a benchmark qualification for the profession in Europe and beyond.
You can read the full position paper here.
The mapping document is available here.