The BCS Learning and Development Specialist Group, representing L&D practitioners working in the IT profession are hosting a conference on the use of SFIA in Education and Workplace Learning at the Open University on 13th June.

The Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) is the IT skills model for the IT profession used globally by governments, corporations and now academia. Amazingly SFIA has been around for over a decade and has managed to keep pace with the rampant pace of change in the IT profession.

The 5th iteration of the SFIA model was launched in December 2011 at the offces of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT in London. Among the most significant changes in version 5 of SFIA was the inclusion of IT skills for teachers, tutors, trainers and educators in the widest sense; including those working in compulsory, further and higher education as well as workplace learning practitioners in the private and public sector.

SFIA provides a clear and comprehensive skills roadmap, with seven levels of progression across a wide range of IT and IT related job roles, including consulting, project management and now teaching.

One of the first academic institutions to fully embrace SFIA and align their undergraduate IT and Computing qualifications with the model is the Open University.

The conference being hosted by the BCS L&D specialist group on 13th June has a great line of of speakers from industry, government and academia, from the UK and as far away as Australia and Chile - truly SFIA's reach is global! Several organisations have submitted papers for the event, and the discussion on the day may be followed on twitter using the hashtag #LDCong12, or follow the BCS L&D specialist group @LandDinIT

Enrolments for the conference close on 11th June 2012, details here.