How to become a dispensing optician
Official title: Dispensing optician
Dispensing opticians fit glasses or contact lenses prescribed to people by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They also assemble and repair frames and eyewear.
Main tasks
- Check people's vision
- Do eye health checks
- Help customers choose glasses
- Assemble and repair frames
- Fit vision aids to customers
- Conduct pre-tests for optometrists
- Advise people how to care for glasses
- Record patient medical histories
How to become one
You need a qualification and experience to become a dispensing optician. You usually need NCEA Level 2 to do the study or training for this job. Required: to be over 18 years old; to complete a Certificate IV in Optical Dispensing New Zealand through the Australasian College of Optical Dispensing; 100 hours’ work experience in a retail optical dispensary in New Zealand; an Annual Practising Certificate. Registration body: Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board.
Ways in
- Registration or licence: An Annual Practising Certificate. Registration body: Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board (https://www.odob.health.nz).
Pay · Past change · AI and this job
- Median pay: $56,000 a year, a TEC estimate before tax.
- Upper: $88,000 a year
- TEC shows pay for this job by the hour: median $26.92 an hour.
- TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
- Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Increase (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Who does this work
- About 1,100 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
- In the group Other Miscellaneous Technicians and Trades Workers, 24% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
- Where people in the group Other Miscellaneous Technicians and Trades Workers work (2023 Census): Auckland 33.3%, Canterbury 14%, and Waikato 11.3%.
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Questions people ask
How do I become a dispensing optician?
You need a qualification and experience to become a dispensing optician. You usually need NCEA Level 2 to do the study or training for this job. Required: to be over 18 years old; to complete a Certificate IV in Optical Dispensing New Zealand through the Australasian College of Optical Dispensing; 100 hours’ work experience in a retail optical dispensary in New Zealand; an Annual Practising Certificate. Registration body: Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board.
How much does a dispensing optician earn in New Zealand?
The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $56,000 a year, before tax.
Has the number of people working as a dispensing optician grown in New Zealand?
It has grown: TEC records an increase in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.
Will AI change the work of a dispensing optician?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.
Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.
This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.
Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.
These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.
Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.
Updated 4 October 2026