The
e-skills National Training Organisation has launched an initiative to improve
employees’ basic IT skills.
It
is part of a joint effort between government, education and industry to assess
and improve the working population’s skills in areas such as wordprocessing
packages, the use of e-mail and spreadsheets.
The
initiative, titled IT4all, will look at the implications of technology trends
for business and examine the IT user skills needed by employers.
The
focus of IT4all is to develop a UK IT user skills strategy for improving skills
among the UK’s existing and potential workforce.
Karen
Price, CEO for e-skills NTO, said IT literacy is a core skill on which UK
competitiveness depends.
"Through
IT4all, we are bringing together government, industry and education to tackle
the issue of IT skills for all and ensure people receive the correct training
and develop the necessary skills sets to meet employers needs," she added.
Jay
Mercer, executive director at Berkshire Learning and Skills Council, responsible
for local planning and funding of education and training said, "Almost all
businesses use IT intensively. Employers need more specialists to manage their
systems and software but they also need most of their workforce to acquire
higher level skills in effective use of applications such as spreadsheets and
databases."
"The
more employers invest in IT training and developing their employees, the more
secure and successful their businesses will be."
By
Lisa Bratby
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