Professionals Objective 4: Development Pathways and Qualifications

Employers and individuals have difficulty understanding the relative merits of the 800 different IT qualifications in the UK, and the inter-relationships between them. This limits the uptake of qualifications. IT staff often have no professional qualifications at all, further complicating and slowing recruitment ¹¹ . The proliferation of training options, including the expansion of Internet-based course delivery, goes hand-in-hand with the need for simpler ways to assess the content and quality of training courses. This is leading to demand for an independent accreditation or 'kitemark' process, attesting to quality of course content, trainers and training organisations. Companies often have the expense of having their staff undertake multiple vendor qualifications, despite the considerable overlap that often exists. Qualifications often do not keep pace with change in the industry, for example in e-commerce. It is necessary to establish a core set of standards that are attractive to employers and individuals in terms of skills development, recruitment and retention. Some employers, particularly those with large numbers of new recruits, wish to offer nationally-accredited development programmes such as the Modern Apprenticeship, but are inhibited by the time investment to manage its delivery. This is creating a new demand for outsourced 'managed apprenticeship' programmes.

More relevant and available e-skills development pathways and qualifications	Programmes: 4.1. Development: Update development pathways and national standards to meet employer needs 12 , creating qualifications that combine the best of competence-based and proprietary qualifications. 4.2. Quality standards: Collaborating with employer partners, implement an employer-led e-skills NTO quality assurance programme, with trainers, centres and materials certificated to approved standards. 4.3. Promotion: Clearly communicate to employers and individuals the availability and value of IT qualifications, proprietary and non-proprietary, and development pathways such as Modern Apprenticeship and Graduate Apprenticeship. 4.4. Access: Remove inhibitors and stimulate uptake of development pathways and qualifications, including offering 'managed apprenticeships' and programmes to address the changing skills needs of existing IT professionals.
A workforce that is professionally qualified with up to date skills

"Trying to get the skills we need for e-business is quite a challenge. My staff want online training and need to be able to work out quickly and with confidence whether a particular course will really deliver what they are expecting." Steve Galimore MD, Corporate Direct (Europe) Ltd

¹¹ It typically takes employers between one and three months to source skills for IT vacancies - unacceptably slow for such a dynamic industry.

¹² As defined in annual skills plans for the development of the workforce (see objective 3 ).

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