You are here: Home → Services & Applications → Informatics Capability Development (ICD) → Development of informatics specialists → Career development and workforce planning → Professionalising Health Informatics (PHI) → Personal progression → Learning web → Professional development → Career pathways → Informatics skills for 14-19 year olds
Services & Applications
 

Informatics skills for 14-19 year olds

Diploma in IT

The Diploma is a new qualification for 14-19 year olds in England. Developed by e-Skills UK in partnership with employers and universities, each Diploma blends general education and applied learning to provide a motivating and challenging programme of study.

Diplomas are being developed in fourteen lines of learning, relating to fourteen broad economic sectors. Each will be available at Foundation level (equivalent to 4-5 GCSEs), Higher level (equivalent to 5-6 GCSEs) and Advanced level (equivalent to 3½ A-levels). The Diploma in IT is one of the first five Diplomas, which is being taught from September 2008.

The Diploma in IT is an exciting and flexible qualification for 14-19 year olds, designed in partnership with universities and employers.

It reflects the blend of business, technical and interpersonal skills needed in modern IT professional roles.

The Diploma in IT will prepare young people for further study or work through a blend of theoretical and applied learning.

What's new about the Diploma in IT?

  • Focus on competences relevant to IT professional work (rather than IT user skills)
  • Focus on the three interwoven themes of business, people and technology
  • Focus on what a person can do, as well as what a person knows
  • Real-life relevance built on current materials from industry
  • Unprecedented support from employers for content and transforming delivery

Find out more: www.e-skills.com/diploma.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships provide routes into a variety of careers, including many in the NHS, and offer the opportunity to earn, learn and achieve nationally recognised qualifications at the same time.

Apprenticeships often include a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ).

Apprenticeships are for people looking for a job that enables them to carry on learning, and for those already in employment who want to gain further qualifications.

How do you set up an apprenticeship scheme? The NHS East of England has run an IT apprenticeship project - their report on how best to do this can be dowloaded below. It contains useful tips on where to start, how much it costs, and also includes a sample business plan and person specification for an apprentice.

Resources