In this white paper, Future Cert sets out to question “whose fault is the IT skills gap?”
If you work in the IT sector or education – or simply read a newspaper – there’s no need to tell you that a chronic shortage of qualified IT professionals continues to impede economic growth in the UK. Yet, despite agreeing that there is a problem, authorities across industry, the education sector and the Government, fail to agree on whether this is as the result of misdirected training provision, a lack of under-standing as to the role of professional certification, a lack of industry recognition as to the value of skills or Government lip-service in terms of drawing the parties together.
Drawing on first hand research from educators, employers and IT professionals, as well as dialogues across Government, we examine:
- The realities of skills shortages for employers;
- The demand for better training for and by IT professionals;
- The role of evolving training and qualification methods;
- The value put on certification, set against, training;
- The approach taken, and promises made, by acting Government and opposition parties;
- What we see on the horizon, concerning Brexit.
Although there is a similar and recognised crisis in terms of an IT gender gap, for the purposes of this re-port we have focused exclusively on skills. Future Cert is a staunch supporter of measures to close the IT gender gap.