National Occupational Standards (NOS) – review and development

A partner organisation – ODAG Consultants Ltd, have been commissioned by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to expand the range of National Occupational Standards (NOS) relating to IT, and in particular to develop new NOS in the areas of Software Development, Machine Learning/AI and Cyber Security.

Sagacity Research are assisting with this process by providing supporting data and analysis and by hosting a consultation exercise to collect feedback on the proposed NOS from all interested parties.

Accordingly, we are inviting you to get involved in this process by considering the associated documentation (provided within the sections and links below) and providing feedback on them using the associated consultation questionnaire.

National Occupational Standards (NOS) – what are they?

National Occupational Standards (NOS) are a series of documents describing the competences, knowledge and understanding that individuals need to undertake particular job tasks. Typically, they are drawn up by sector specialists who, through a process of focused research and extensive stakeholder consultation, will develop and set out NOS in a common format which allows them to be easily accessed and used by individuals and organisations across the UK.

All NOS documents are freely available for use on-line at https://www.ukstandards.org.uk.

National Occupational Standards (NOS) – what are they for?

NOS documents are used by a wide range of organisations and individuals and for a variety of purposes. Some of the main ones though include:

• employers – when looking to develop a job description when recruiting new staff.
• employers – when undertaking workforce planning or developing appraisal systems.
• employers/education and training providers – when developing apprenticeships.
• awarding bodies – when creating work-relevant qualifications.
• individuals – when assessing their skills/experience with those needed for particular jobs.

The NOS review – who should get involved?

As noted above, NOS are really for everyone, and as such we welcome comments from all individuals or organisations with an interest in them – by collecting feedback from a wide range of employers, public bodies, education/training providers and individuals we hope to ensure that the standards are up-to-date, fit for purpose, and fully reflective of user needs.

The NOS review – what do I need to do now?

To help shape these important standards, we ask that you read through and comment upon each of the related documents that are relevant to you and/or your business – you can do this either by:

• downloading the NOS of interest/ feedback form using the links opposite and then send comments to info@sagacityresearch.co.uk
• head straight to the consultation survey where you will again find copies of all NOS we are consulting on, together with associated feedback questions.

The NOS review – how long do I have to respond?

The NOS consultation will now be open until February 7th.