Beginning in October 2007, e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT and Telecoms, are hosting a series of half-day consultation events throughout the UK, giving you the opportunity to have your say in shaping the national frameworks for the IT profession and for IT user skills in all sectors of industry.
Our common objective is a set of building blocks (National Occupational Standards – NOS) for training programmes and qualifications that really meet the needs of businesses and attract government funding.
There are two main strands which you can influence:
1. e-skills UK has created a common language and framework for defining IT professional skills, knowledge and experience. Entitled ‘PROCOM’, the framework unites and builds on existing skills and development programmes such as the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), the National Occupational Standards and BCS’s Chartered Professional programme, to establish a consistent approach to expressing IT professional capabilities. We are seeking further input from employers to ensure the national framework and related standards are reflective of employers’ needs. PROCOM, and the revised NOS, will provide a common language for employers, IT professionals, professional bodies, Higher Education Institutions and training providers.
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2. The e-skills UK framework for IT user skills is crucial to ensuring that everyone using Information Technology is trained, assessed and developed against a nationally and industry recognised measure. The UK population’s IT skills must be transferable from organisation to organisation and contribute to increasing the UK’s level of productivity. The e-skills UK IT User Skills framework and related standards underpin the development of all qualifications and learning materials focused on using technology – whether at school, home or the office. We are seeking input from employers to review the framework and standards to make sure they are reflective of employers’ needs.
We encourage you to attend one of our events. In addition, there will be opportunities to contribute via an online consultation. For more information and to register your interest in attending one of the consultation events and/or take part in the online consultation, please visit www.e-skills.com/consultation.