IT staff at Knowsley Borough Council have gained an end-user
qualification to launch a computer literacy scheme across all user
departments.
Virtually all the IT team gained the European computer driving
licence, an independent qualification which tests knowledge of word
processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation graphics and
network services.
The scheme is run in the UK by the British Computer Society and
has notched up almost 40,000 takers in its first 18 months.
Knowsley had three aims in putting its IT staff through the
scheme.
"We wanted to raise the skills of IT staff in standard user
software," says IT manager Glyn Evans. "High technical ability does
not necessarily mean IT staff are also highly competent in these
products.
"Second, this was used as a launch event for the scheme in the
council. We feel it is important that all users reach at least the
skills level of the computer driving licence. This will enable them
to have greater awareness of the potential of IT in their jobs. It
will also reduce the number of calls for help to the IT
division.
"We also saw this as a team building exercise. The division was
split in two and each group studied and took the exams
together."