BTEC and Skillset - Relevant or outdated? - Part 1

BTEC Syllabus
http://www.edexcel.org.uk/VirtualContent/94798/BH015809_HNCD_Interactive_Media_L5_specification.pdf

Skillset standards
http://www.skillset.org/uploads/pdf/asset_11296.pdf?1

For the purposes of this discussion I will be referring to both the Skillset standards and the BTEC syllabus, both of which can be found by following the links at the top of this post. Is the BTEC syllabus representative of the true Interactive Media industry, or does the Skillset standards provide a much more useful insight for budding IMists?

A good place to start would be to point out the differences and limitations of the two. The BTEC syllabus has many academic loops to jump through, as it forms the basis of an education. The Skillset standards are in the fortunate position of not being part of an educational environment, and as such are purely dedicated to the industry. In some senses this approach has its limitations – a lot of the personal development focus from the BTEC syllabus is almost completely ignored.

On the other hand, the Skillset standards have a much stronger focus on the more technical aspects of the industry, especially with regards to programming languages. The BTEC syllabus lacks the depth of technical skills to the same extent as Skillset’s offerings, which is a major limitation. As the industry starts moving more towards web applications and the possibilities of using the internet in unique ways more than just a website, knowing programming languages such as PHP becomes ever the more important, and BTEC’s lack of consideration of this only becomes more obvious. This stems from certain areas of the BTEC syllabus being outdated, and as such the more current web trends are often omitted, especially referring to the BTEC’s syllabus use of technologies such as CGI.

Although Skillset’s standards may be current, some may question its industrial relevance when you begin to look at exactly how some skills are assigned to job roles. For example, if you glance at the pages regarding assets collection, it is stated that an example job role for this would be a production assistant. Does a designer not have to do this job? Is it not a designer’s role to consider copyright sensitivity and abide by these rules?

Discussion continued in the next entry.