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The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap

David S. Bowers Orcid Logo, Alan Hayes Orcid Logo, Tom Prickett Orcid Logo, Tom Crick Orcid Logo, Kevin Streater Orcid Logo, Chris Sharp Orcid Logo

UKICER '23: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research, Pages: 1 - 7

Swansea University Author: Tom Crick Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1145/3610969.3611121

Abstract

Computing comprises a broad spectrum of subjects and specialisms, with a rich variety of undergraduate courses (including Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Information Technology and Software Engineering) offered by universities worldwide. This breadth prese...

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Published in: UKICER '23: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research
ISBN: 9798400708763
Published: New York, NY, United States Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2023
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69823
first_indexed 2025-06-26T13:09:41Z
last_indexed 2025-07-05T05:01:45Z
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This breadth presents challenges for employers considering employing computing graduates and hence desiring to know both the topics studied and the skills/competencies accumulated by graduates to be able to make appropriate job offers. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) may not have the resources to provide graduate training programmes, and therefore need &#x2018;work-ready&#x2019; graduates. This paper explores and evaluates the feasibility of benchmarking students&#x2019; achievements against an industry-led skills framework, Skills for the Information Age (SFIA), to distinguish between what graduates know, have done or are competent in. The approach taken was evolutionary prototyping, informed by expert review. The work generated an accreditation standard that could be implemented or used as a model to enhance an existing accreditation standard. 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spelling 2025-07-04T11:27:59.2566752 v2 69823 2025-06-26 The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap 200c66ef0fc55391f736f6e926fb4b99 0000-0001-5196-9389 Tom Crick Tom Crick true false 2025-06-26 SOSS Computing comprises a broad spectrum of subjects and specialisms, with a rich variety of undergraduate courses (including Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Information Technology and Software Engineering) offered by universities worldwide. This breadth presents challenges for employers considering employing computing graduates and hence desiring to know both the topics studied and the skills/competencies accumulated by graduates to be able to make appropriate job offers. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) may not have the resources to provide graduate training programmes, and therefore need ‘work-ready’ graduates. This paper explores and evaluates the feasibility of benchmarking students’ achievements against an industry-led skills framework, Skills for the Information Age (SFIA), to distinguish between what graduates know, have done or are competent in. The approach taken was evolutionary prototyping, informed by expert review. The work generated an accreditation standard that could be implemented or used as a model to enhance an existing accreditation standard. In contrast to academic approaches to competency-based education, or abstract notions of generic skills, this work focused on defining an output standard expressed in terms of employer needs and expectations captured in the SFIA skills framework. We show how a course meeting the proposed standard would satisfy the UK benchmarks for an undergraduate computing degree. By badging SFIA knowledge and competencies, such a course would enhance its learning outcomes, offering clarity for employers and career benefits to students. Conference Paper/Proceeding/Abstract UKICER '23: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research 1 7 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) New York, NY, United States 9798400708763 IT competencies, accreditation standard, skills frameworks, SFIA 25 9 2023 2023-09-25 10.1145/3610969.3611121 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University Other The Institute of Coding received funding from the UK Department for Education, via the Office for Students (OfS), with additional support from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). 2025-07-04T11:27:59.2566752 2025-06-26T13:58:55.6964940 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies David S. Bowers 0000-0003-3106-4923 1 Alan Hayes 0000-0002-2192-9113 2 Tom Prickett 0000-0002-9671-2250 3 Tom Crick 0000-0001-5196-9389 4 Kevin Streater 0000-0003-3291-8935 5 Chris Sharp 0009-0009-5962-5439 6 69823__34594__2dbef9202c0943808275d48540f03776.pdf 69823.VOR.pdf 2025-06-26T14:05:59.6237838 Output 474629 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2023 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap
spellingShingle The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap
Tom Crick
title_short The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap
title_full The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap
title_fullStr The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap
title_full_unstemmed The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap
title_sort The Institute of Coding Accreditation Standard: Exploring the Use of a Professional Skills Framework to Address the UK Skills Gap
author_id_str_mv 200c66ef0fc55391f736f6e926fb4b99
author_id_fullname_str_mv 200c66ef0fc55391f736f6e926fb4b99_***_Tom Crick
author Tom Crick
author2 David S. Bowers
Alan Hayes
Tom Prickett
Tom Crick
Kevin Streater
Chris Sharp
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publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
isbn 9798400708763
doi_str_mv 10.1145/3610969.3611121
publisher Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description Computing comprises a broad spectrum of subjects and specialisms, with a rich variety of undergraduate courses (including Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Information Technology and Software Engineering) offered by universities worldwide. This breadth presents challenges for employers considering employing computing graduates and hence desiring to know both the topics studied and the skills/competencies accumulated by graduates to be able to make appropriate job offers. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) may not have the resources to provide graduate training programmes, and therefore need ‘work-ready’ graduates. This paper explores and evaluates the feasibility of benchmarking students’ achievements against an industry-led skills framework, Skills for the Information Age (SFIA), to distinguish between what graduates know, have done or are competent in. The approach taken was evolutionary prototyping, informed by expert review. The work generated an accreditation standard that could be implemented or used as a model to enhance an existing accreditation standard. In contrast to academic approaches to competency-based education, or abstract notions of generic skills, this work focused on defining an output standard expressed in terms of employer needs and expectations captured in the SFIA skills framework. We show how a course meeting the proposed standard would satisfy the UK benchmarks for an undergraduate computing degree. By badging SFIA knowledge and competencies, such a course would enhance its learning outcomes, offering clarity for employers and career benefits to students.
published_date 2023-09-25T05:29:11Z
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