This is to let you know that consultation has now begun on the development of version 4 of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). IT professionals, their employers and those responsible for their education and training are invited to participate by visiting ...
http://sfia.textmatters.com/
Everyone who has an interest in IT skills can comment on the existing skills definitions and make suggestions for new content. If you need any guidance on what is needed, you can see some notes on the SFIA web site at ...
http://www.sfia.org.uk/cgi-bin/wms.pl/1711
... and there is a link from there to the Update site.
SFIA provides the most widely-accepted definitions of IT skills and is now used by more than 1,000 organisations to produce job descriptions and role profiles, support resource planning, and improve business effectiveness. It has been translated into Chinese and Japanese.
Quote: "The great strength of SFIA is that it is based on actual best practice in the workplace. Users can therefore be confident that it provides a tried and tested solution to their IT skills management needs."
The consultation will run through to September and SFIA version 4 is due to be released before the end of 2008.
Showing posts with label E-Skills UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label E-Skills UK. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 May 2008
SFIA v4 Update - have your say
ITIL refresh... Prince 2 refresh... let's add another one to the list with SFIA (Skills for the Information Age)! This just in today from e-skills:
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Girls and Women in ICT update
It's almost a year since I posted about girls and women working in ICT. Not much seems to have changed in that time from my relatively uninvolved perspective, but things certainly haven't stood still.
It isn't only the UK that has a shortage of girls going into IT careers (we're comparably well off compared to some countries); the European Union are also doing their bit to try and encourage a change. I watched the shadowing video with interest but felt that it really didn't succeed in the way that I think the one over on e-skills UK does.
Speaking of e-skills, the CC4G (Computer Club for Girls) website has had a much needed makeover and there is now some improved content in the way of case studies and links to other sites as well as information for employers who may want to get involved.
Finally, I wanted to mention that from 6th - 8th June in Tunis there is an 'International Colloquium on Empowering Women in Engineering and Technology'. The programme looks quite interesting although I do wonder just how you become one of the 'selected women' :)
It isn't only the UK that has a shortage of girls going into IT careers (we're comparably well off compared to some countries); the European Union are also doing their bit to try and encourage a change. I watched the shadowing video with interest but felt that it really didn't succeed in the way that I think the one over on e-skills UK does.
Speaking of e-skills, the CC4G (Computer Club for Girls) website has had a much needed makeover and there is now some improved content in the way of case studies and links to other sites as well as information for employers who may want to get involved.
Finally, I wanted to mention that from 6th - 8th June in Tunis there is an 'International Colloquium on Empowering Women in Engineering and Technology'. The programme looks quite interesting although I do wonder just how you become one of the 'selected women' :)
Sunday, 9 July 2006
Where's the profIT?
I really should have written about the ProfIT conference immediately so this may be old news to some of you.
On Monday 8th May 2006 I attended the Prof IT conference in London. The tagline: 'Building a World Leading IT Capability'. Not world-class, but world-leading.
My interest in the event stemmed from a desire to see IT become a recognised profession in the same way that say, accountancy is. I've heard people talk about IT staff as a 'protected species' but without perhaps the understanding of why we may be protected and what it is we actually deliver to the business. I don't want to be a member of a protected species; I want to be recognised and valued as a professional (but that's another blog entry).
The seminars throughout the day explored the issues around what constitutes a profession as well as a professional, and having defined this, how to go about making it happen.
There was an impressive array of people on the guest list ranging from MDs and CEX across both private and public sectors which inspires some confidence that there is a commitment to seeing this vision become a reality. Curiously, some comments from people in the private sector suggested that they believe real change can only happen if government embraces it. They seemed particularly pleased to hear Katie Davies, Director of IT Professionalism for e-government introduce the Government's take on the SFIA framework, etc.
The highlight of the day for me personally was the motivating presentation from David Taylor, author of The Naked Leader. He hates us calling recipients of IT services 'users' which he pointed out was akin to calling them druggies and suggested we come up with something else (but such is the dependence on IT these terms that the term is rather apt in my opinion) !
The culmination of the day was the signing of the ProfIT Programme Alliance by representatives of E-Skills UK, Intellect, the National Computing Centre and British Computer Society.
Anyhow, presentations from the conference are available for download. So if you want to know how IT professionalism is progressing be sure to take a look.
On Monday 8th May 2006 I attended the Prof IT conference in London. The tagline: 'Building a World Leading IT Capability'. Not world-class, but world-leading.
My interest in the event stemmed from a desire to see IT become a recognised profession in the same way that say, accountancy is. I've heard people talk about IT staff as a 'protected species' but without perhaps the understanding of why we may be protected and what it is we actually deliver to the business. I don't want to be a member of a protected species; I want to be recognised and valued as a professional (but that's another blog entry).
The seminars throughout the day explored the issues around what constitutes a profession as well as a professional, and having defined this, how to go about making it happen.
There was an impressive array of people on the guest list ranging from MDs and CEX across both private and public sectors which inspires some confidence that there is a commitment to seeing this vision become a reality. Curiously, some comments from people in the private sector suggested that they believe real change can only happen if government embraces it. They seemed particularly pleased to hear Katie Davies, Director of IT Professionalism for e-government introduce the Government's take on the SFIA framework, etc.
The highlight of the day for me personally was the motivating presentation from David Taylor, author of The Naked Leader. He hates us calling recipients of IT services 'users' which he pointed out was akin to calling them druggies and suggested we come up with something else (but such is the dependence on IT these terms that the term is rather apt in my opinion) !
The culmination of the day was the signing of the ProfIT Programme Alliance by representatives of E-Skills UK, Intellect, the National Computing Centre and British Computer Society.
Anyhow, presentations from the conference are available for download. So if you want to know how IT professionalism is progressing be sure to take a look.
Monday, 26 June 2006
If I had this a month ago!
As I was going through some papers that I got from the ProfIT conference I came across a leaflet promoting the Intellect Women in IT Forum.
If only I had looked at it before I gave the presentation at the 'Women into ICT' day! It summarises very nicely some of the key issues affecting the recruitment and retention of women in working IT today and also mentions the deliverables from their research programme, in particular:
Women in the IT industry: Phase 2 Research How to Retain Women in the IT Industry (July 2005)
Women in the IT industry: Phase 1 Research Towards a Business Case for Diversity (January 2005)
That wasn't what got me all excited though. The Intellect link led me to the hitherto unplummed depths of the E-skills UK website (and I used to think I'd had a really good browse of it too!). In a tiny corner of the careers section there is a link to a video entitled 'You can do IT too!' which, lo and behold, seeks to destroy those stereotypical perceptions of IT workers in an effort to encourage young women into the field!
If only I had looked at it before I gave the presentation at the 'Women into ICT' day! It summarises very nicely some of the key issues affecting the recruitment and retention of women in working IT today and also mentions the deliverables from their research programme, in particular:
Women in the IT industry: Phase 2 Research How to Retain Women in the IT Industry (July 2005)
Women in the IT industry: Phase 1 Research Towards a Business Case for Diversity (January 2005)
That wasn't what got me all excited though. The Intellect link led me to the hitherto unplummed depths of the E-skills UK website (and I used to think I'd had a really good browse of it too!). In a tiny corner of the careers section there is a link to a video entitled 'You can do IT too!' which, lo and behold, seeks to destroy those stereotypical perceptions of IT workers in an effort to encourage young women into the field!
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Who wants an IT Diploma?
If you're not quite sure what I am talking about let me fill you in quickly.
The UK government has recognised that the current education system is somewhat lacking in a number of industry sectors of which IT is but one (no doubt thanks to certain major employers and organisations such as the BCS saying that IT educuation is not fit for purpose and that there are too many university courses for IT churning out students who still need training to become effective in a real world job).
The hope is that developing an IT diploma (aimed at 14-19 year olds) with significant input from businesses (how much consultation is being done with current teachers of IT & computing I have no idea!) will lead to more interesting courses, and students are actually ready to take on an apprenticeship or progress to universities.
So, back to what I was saying... I've read the development specifications and so far I like what I see. Focusing on the level 3 diploma there are skills that students would be required to achive a basic standard in that many people in today's workplace today either don't have or don't care about. I mean, how many of you learnt how to write a business case for IT investment at school? Or best practice and the basics of project management frameworks?
If this qualification leads to more interesting education which attracts more women (not that I'm biased or anything!) and students who know more than standard network topologies then it has to be a step in the right direction.
Of course, there are all the issues regarding re-educating IT teachers to teach the syllabus as well as businesses stepping up to offer work placements but I think the future is brighter than it has been.
If you're interested in learning more about the IT Diploma take a look at:
The "SPECIALISED DIPLOMA: THE IT LINE LEARNING STRUCTURE, BALANCE OF
CONTENT AND PROGRESSION " and the "14-19 Diploma Development (IT), EMPLOYER NEEDS DEFINITION:
input from the UK EMPLOYER SURVEY "
Further information is available from the E-Skills UK Website.
The UK government has recognised that the current education system is somewhat lacking in a number of industry sectors of which IT is but one (no doubt thanks to certain major employers and organisations such as the BCS saying that IT educuation is not fit for purpose and that there are too many university courses for IT churning out students who still need training to become effective in a real world job).
The hope is that developing an IT diploma (aimed at 14-19 year olds) with significant input from businesses (how much consultation is being done with current teachers of IT & computing I have no idea!) will lead to more interesting courses, and students are actually ready to take on an apprenticeship or progress to universities.
So, back to what I was saying... I've read the development specifications and so far I like what I see. Focusing on the level 3 diploma there are skills that students would be required to achive a basic standard in that many people in today's workplace today either don't have or don't care about. I mean, how many of you learnt how to write a business case for IT investment at school? Or best practice and the basics of project management frameworks?
If this qualification leads to more interesting education which attracts more women (not that I'm biased or anything!) and students who know more than standard network topologies then it has to be a step in the right direction.
Of course, there are all the issues regarding re-educating IT teachers to teach the syllabus as well as businesses stepping up to offer work placements but I think the future is brighter than it has been.
If you're interested in learning more about the IT Diploma take a look at:
The "SPECIALISED DIPLOMA: THE IT LINE LEARNING STRUCTURE, BALANCE OF
CONTENT AND PROGRESSION " and the "14-19 Diploma Development (IT), EMPLOYER NEEDS DEFINITION:
input from the UK EMPLOYER SURVEY "
Further information is available from the E-Skills UK Website.
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