Standards and skills framework

e-skills National Occupational Standards

Introduction

The e-skills National Occupational Standards (NOS) detail the range of discrete areas of competence needed to describe the diverse job roles in the IT and Telecoms industries, IT professional jobs in other sectors, and jobs in Contact Centres. The e-skills NOS also include the discrete areas of competence needed by IT users in all sectors of industry. They have been developed in consultation with employers, and are articulated and maintained by e-skills UK on behalf of industry.

NOS provide a common industry-recognised reference framework that can be used for a variety of training and development purposes, for example writing and reviewing job descriptions, assessing staff or developing training programme such as Apprenticeships.

NOS also underpin Vocational Qualifications - ie, National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in England and Wales and the Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) in Scotland.

The e-skills NOS, assessment strategies and qualification structures can be downloaded in hard copy following the sector links on the summary page (or in the right hand-side menu). They can also be viewed interactively at http://nos.e-skills.com.  

The NOS and Qualification Structures for Information and Communication Technologies and Contact Centres were approved on 24 February 04. The NOS and Qualification Structure for IT Users were approved on 16 November 03. The NOS are constantly under review to reflect any changes in the sector.

If you have any questions or issues you would like to discuss, please contact qualifications@e-skills.com.

Last modified: 13 Mar 2008