Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Digital Skills , Digital Literacy and Apprenticeship Frameworks



I've been doing a bit of homework today on all things Trail Blazer Apprenticeship Frameworks - picking out specifically the opportunities to embed digital skills and where digital tools can be used in assessment, tracking and related processes.

Wales have already moved to an essential skills framework that includes digital literacy rather than IT as a core component. Based on  Jisc and many otherswork around digital literacy.  I like this piece on Move over ICT

In Scotland we have at the moment : Core Skills , Essential Skills , Skills for Learning Life and Work.

Perhaps it is time, with new apprenticeship frameworks on the horizon  and an all employer training levy about to arrive,  to do a bit of thinking in this space in Scotland too. Is it time to think Digital Literacy rather than Information Technology ?

As a first pass on Document Future of Apprenticeships in England 

Key Sections From Future of Apprenticeships in England 
Page 7 Future of Apprenticeships in England 

• The English and maths criterion has been extended to cover digital skills, to the
extent that Trailblazers are now required to consider whether digital skills should
be built into the standard(s) they are developing (criterion F at paragraph 85).

Page 30 

In this context, “digital” encompasses the very broad set of skills that individuals need in order to
understand, use or create the software and services we all access through devices such as computers,
tablets and ‘smart’ phones.

Page 19 

Criteria for apprenticeship standards
50.To ensure every standard is high quality there are seven criteria that all
apprenticeship standards must meet. These, together with the kind of evidence
needed to demonstrate compliance with the criteria, are set out fully at paragraph 85
but, in summary, a standard must:
A. Be short, concise and clear.
B. Set out the full competence needed in an occupation, so that, on completion,
the apprentice is able to carry out the role in any size of employer across any
relevant sector.
C. Have the support of employers including smaller businesses.
D. Be sufficiently stretching so that it will require at least a year of training (before
the end-point assessment) with off-the-job training accounting for at least 20%
of the apprenticeship.
E. Align with professional registration where it exists.
F. Contain minimum English and maths requirements and any digital skills
required.
G. Only include mandatory qualifications under certain circumstances. 


Page 30 
As a key underpinning skill set, you should also consider whether any digital skills
are required to achieve full competence in the occupation, and include them in the standard if appropriate. 

Delivery Page 51
For all standards, the amount of off-the-job training mandated is a minimum of
20% or equivalent. We expect that all apprentices will benefit from genuine training away from their day-to-day job, but this does not necessarily need to take place away from the employer’s premises. 

EPA = End Point Assessmeent 
Assessment and a Good Assessment Plan Page 71 
• Explain what will be assessed (i.e. which skills, knowledge and behaviour
listed on the standard, and giving more detail if needed).
• Explain how the apprentice will be assessed (i.e. which method or range of
methods will be used at the end of the apprenticeship to judge competency),
• Indicate who will carry out the assessment (i.e. who will be the assessor(s) for
each aspect of the end-point assessment (EPA)),
• Propose internal and external quality assurance arrangements to make sure
that EPAs are reliable and consistent across different locations, employers,
and training and assessment organisations

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