1 Emily Emily is an able post-16 student taking the Advanced Diploma in information technology. She is an able student who achieved A* in GCSE English, Maths, Applied ICT and Geography and A in GCSE Science, German and Psychology. For Emily, IT is the future. She believes that in an economy like ours which is based on information, the people who know about the technology will always been in demand. As she repeatedly tells people, the nineteenth century was all about steam engines, but our world is all about IT. For her, IT is the obvious career choice, and for financial reasons she has decided to go straight into employment rather than taking up the university place she was offered.

Emily: Advanced Diploma in IT 2 generic learning 180 GLH 3 x functional skills at level 2 (prerequisite) extended project qualification (120 GLH) 10 days work experience personal, learning and thinking skills (60 GLH) principal learning 540 GLH 7 mandatory units The potential of new technology Understanding organisations Professional development Creating technology solutions Multimedia and digital projects Making projects successful Managing technology systems additional and specialist learning 360 GLH BTEC National Award for IT Practitioners (360 GLH)

3 Example progression route: Trainee IT Help Desk professional in an insurance company’s headquarters. AND... principal learning; functional skills; personal, learning and thinking skills; ASL Work experience A three week placement at a local Higher Education Institution working with Business Faculty IT Help Desk technicians in supporting staff and students with IT problems. This involved accompanying the technician to the user’s desktop to resolve the problem and offered the opportunity to develop her own trouble shooting skills. Extended Project When the Parents Association at Emily’s school decided to hold a summer fete to raise money to improve the school playing fields, Emily offered to create a website specifically for the event. The website provided regularly updated administrative information for all the parents and students involved in organising it. It was also a way of advertising the event, because all the posters and flyers urged people to visit the website to find out more about what would be happening at the fete. Emily created the site using web-authoring software, found a suitable web-hosting company and uploaded and maintained the site for 6 weeks. From this experience she realised that the call logging database did not provide sufficient information regarding the status of any given enquiry. As a result she undertook an analysis of the process and provided the IT Help Desk Manager with her suggested improvements. These were subsequently incorporated into a wider review of the call handling process. (Work experience contd.)