News in Brief

e-skills UK welcomes focus on partnership and delivery in Education and Skills Committee report on 14-19 Diplomas

e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT and Telecoms, welcomes the report on 14-19 Diplomas published today by the Education and Skills Committee.

Karen Price, OBE, CEO of e-skills UK said: “Introducing a major new qualification into a well-established education system is an ambitious and challenging process.  We believe that the introduction of the Diploma in IT provides a valuable opportunity to reform and revitalize IT education for young people.  We are committed to working closely with partners, including employers, education, Awarding Bodies and the Department for Education and Skills to ensure the high quality development and delivery of this exciting new qualification.”

e-skills UK submitted written views and was one of two Sector Skills Councils invited to give evidence in person to the Committee.

e-skills UK particularly welcomes the Select Committee’s recommendations regarding the importance of partnership between schools and colleges, employers and higher education; the need to provide effective support for teachers and consortia to ensure high quality delivery and assessment of the first five Diplomas from 2008; and the recommendation that the pilot phase is followed by managed growth.  e-skills UK also endorses the recommendation that the reform of A levels takes place in line with the experience of the Diplomas.

Karen Price added: “The Diploma in IT marks a new approach in technology-related education for young people.  It is unlike anything that has gone before. The focus of our activity will now be on working with employers and others to support the 45 consortia of schools and colleges introducing the Diploma in IT from September 2008.” 

The Diploma in IT has been developed by a partnership comprising employers, schools, colleges, Higher Education, Awarding Bodies and other organisations, led by e-skills UK.  More than 11 universities contributed to the development of the Diploma in IT, including Warwick, Bristol, Leeds and Oxford Brookes Business School.

Leading employers involved in the development of the Diploma include BT, CA, Centrica, Cisco, EDS, Fujitsu, IBM, John Lewis, LogicaCMG, Microsoft, Oracle and Vodafone. In addition, more than 600 companies across England, including small and medium-sized enterprises, contributed to an in-depth Employer Survey to define the outline content for the Diploma in IT.

For further information on the Diploma in IT please go to www.e-skills.com/itdiploma.

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Posted on 17 May 2007