UK employees wantIT skillsto be centrally assessed but
most are oblivious that national bodies already exist for skills
management.
IT "accelerated learning" specialist
The Training Camp
questioned 609 of its students and found that 79% believed there
should be a professional body for
IT skills
management.
However, 83% of those questioned were unaware of non-profit
bodies such as
SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age), which have
been set up to provide national recognition for skills required for
certain tasks.
As business models move more towards IT projects with strict
deliverables, IT professionals risk criticism of the quality of
their skills should a project fail.
SFIA provides a common reference model for the identification of
the skills needed to develop effective information systems.
A skills framework also enables employers of IT professionals to
carry out a range of human resources activities against a common
framework of reference - including skills audits, planning future
skill requirements, development programmes, the standardisation of
job titles and functions, and resource allocation.
"The UK skills shortage continues to hit the headlines, and the
majority of people feel that a nationally recognised framework
would enable us to standardise skill sets across the
profession.
"But all this is irrelevant if the UK workforce has no idea of
the support that is available," said Robert Chapman, CEO at The
Training Camp.
Chapman said, "The SFIA is an outstanding organisation and
provides the exact information and support IT professionals are
looking for. We have the mechanisms in place to alleviate the
skills shortage, we just need to ensure the public knows about them
- otherwise we are fighting a losing battle."