Case study
Employers:
A vested interest
Dorothy Lepkowska speaks to Microsoft and BT about their Diploma involvement and wider vision for the future
IG BUSINESS and industry has a number of other companies who employ involved in the early development of the IT
B
vested interest in helping Diplomas about 500,000 people in all. As a result, it Diploma. T_h e company is currently looking
to work. can off er a huge resource base for Diploma at setting up e-mentoring facilities between its
“As a company, we believe that students. employees and Diploma students.
you can’t grumble about the applicants you’re “One of the things we try to do is to “It was important for us to work closely

getting if you haven’t participated in trying support work experience, school visits and with many other competitors and the Sector
to get qualifi cations right in the fi rst place,” training for teachers,” Ms Riley said. Skills Council about our mutual concerns
said Clare Riley, group manager for education “Many teachers have excellent life-skills, but with the number of young people entering the
D

Delivering relations at Microsoft. having been through their teacher training industry, the decline in university applicants,
iplomas
“We want kids to come into the industry and gone out to work in schools, they can and the declining number of young people
not just with good academic qualifi cations, easily lose sight of what the modern workplace who were capable enough to work in the
but who have the right practical skills looks like. So we train teachers to understand industry,” Mr Hughes said.
required such as problem-solving, good time- this and changes in industry so they have the “Fewer than a fi fth of all applicants are
management, and independent learning. most up-to-date information when they try, in women so there was also an issue of gender
“We also need them to be risk-takers as turn, to advise their pupils.” imbalance to address.”
that is where the creativity lies. It is important Up to now, Microsoft took mainly interns Mr Hughes worked on a project called
that the talent pipe of people coming into the and graduates for work experience. But it now Revitalise IT, which was contracted by the
profession is good and that we make sure that also off ers this to students aged 15 to 17, who Sector Skills Council and funded by the
we are getting the right qualities and skills.” get the opportunity to participate in a whole Higher Education Funding Council for
Companies such as Microsoft and BT range of programmes, including working with England, which identifi ed two barriers to the
have been involved in the development of people from XBox and MSN, as well as other recruitment of appropriately-trained workers.
Diplomas from the start. areas of the industry, such as marketing. “T_h e fi rst was that young people really
Case study
Microsoft has Ms Riley said: “I sat on the Board of the didn’t understand what careers were available
only about Sector Skills Council which had responsibility and open to them in the industry,” he said.
2,000 for developing the IT Diploma along with “So a young person-friendly website, called
employees people like Oracle, IBM, Vodafone and BT, BigAmbition (see further information)
in the and was later asked to join the Diploma was created to show them the breadth of
UK, but development group. Along with a number of opportunities available in the IT industry.
it works other companies, it was our role to help shape “T_h e other barrier was that within the
with a the Diploma so that it was relevant. T_h is was current ICT curriculum there is too much
large tricky because 90 per cent of jobs require of a focus on user skills, such as how to
people to use IT, so employees need diff erent use database systems or spreadsheets, so
levels of profi ciency in IT. we needed to fi nd ways of showing that IT
“We had to try to fi nd a balance in the was about problem-solving and creating
mix between those who were going to use IT opportunities.
on a fairly basic level and those who needed “T_h ere is a disparity between perception
more sophisticated skills and go into the top based on an unexciting curriculum and the
IT jobs. T_h e Diploma needed to reality of the business. T_h at for us is the crux
support both types of students,” she of the Diploma.
explained. “Diplomas provide a viable alternative and
“Currently the existing GCSEs we cannot continue with the current situation.
and A levels are almost entirely at We need multiple routes into the industry.
the level of user skills so we needed “As a country, we cannot aff ord for
something more sophisticated and Diplomas not to work.” DD
wanted to put this in the Diploma.”
Pat Hughes, BT head of education Further information
engagement and strategy, was also www.bigambition.co.uk
48 Delivering Diplomas • Volume 1 No 1 Autumn 2009
48 multi.indd 12 18/9/09 14:41:51
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