Accreditation
Accreditation for Fits covers two main areas, Support and Management.
More detailed information relating to the support accreditation can be found here;
ICT Support in Education : Practitioner
More detailed information relating to the management accreditation can be found here;
ICT Support in Education : Manager
Technical support – recommended competencies
Junior Technician/Teaching Assistant
A Junior Technician or Teaching Assistant involved with ICT support should understand the principles of good technical support, what the benefits of good technical support are and why it is needed in an educational establishment.
They should have an appreciation of the concepts of Single Point of Contact and Service Desk and the key responsibilities of them.
They should have a good understanding of the processes that make up the Fits framework.
Skill level: Junior, works under supervision of a Technician or Senior Technician. Performs routine activities following standard documented procedures. Has a reasonable level of verbal and written communication skills. Is able and open to learn and develop their skills.
Technician
A Technician should understand the principles of good technical support, what the benefits of good technical support are and why it is needed in an educational establishment.
He/she should have a thorough understanding of the whole Fits framework, what each of the processes are and where they fit within the main areas of Reactive, Proactive, Change and Strategic.
He/she should have a thorough understanding of the Service Desk, Incident Management & Problem Management processes and be able to implement them all successfully.
They should have a good understanding of all aspects of Security as they appertain to their establishment.
They should have a good understanding of the remaining Fits processes and how they are operated in their establishment.
Skill level: Medium to highly skilled. Works with minimal supervision within an agreed framework (or SLA). Is able to influence decisions relating to their area of work and assist technical management in formulating strategy.
Guides and supports junior members of technical staff in undertaking their work. Able to undertake complex support activities with little or no supervision or support.
Senior Technician
A Senior Technician should understand the principles of good technical support, what the benefits of good technical support are and why it is needed in an educational establishment.
He/she should have a thorough understanding of the whole Fits framework, what each of the processes are and where they fit within the main areas of Reactive, Proactive, Change and Strategic.
He/she should have a thorough understanding of the Service Desk, Incident Management & Problem Management processes and be able to implement them all successfully.
They should have a good understanding of all aspects of Security as they appertain to their establishment and be able to identify where security issues exist and how to correct them.
They should have a thorough understanding of the remaining Fits processes, how they are operated in their establishment and be able to implement them where required.
They should be able to create an implementation action plan for any and all of the Fits processes and implement them within their establishment.
Skill level: Highly technically skilled. Has a wide knowledge of ICT. Is able to act on their own initiative and undertake complex activities. Provides detailed input to the ICT strategy. Possesses strong leadership skills and organisational ability.
Is capable of creative thinking, a decision maker and a good man manager.
All of the above roles should complete the ICT Support in Education : Practitioner accreditation.
ICT Support in Education : Practitioner
Network Managers, Heads and members of the Senior Leadership Team.
They should understand the principles of good technical support, what the benefits of good technical support are and why it is needed in an educational establishment.
They should have an appreciation of the concepts of Single Point of Contact and Service Desk and the key responsibilities of them.
They should have a good understanding of the processes that make up the Fits framework.
They should have a thorough understanding of the Fits ‘Workforce Management’ and ‘Heads Pack’ processes.
To gain this understanding they should have successfully completed the ‘Introduction to Fits’ course and studied the management processes outlined above.
Skill level: Has strong management and leadership skills, preferably formally trained. Has authority and responsibility for all aspects of their area of work. Able to delegate and monitor tasks as required.
Creates and executes the ICT strategy with input from members of the ICT team. Has budgetary responsibility or provides input to ICT budget management.
Able to perform one-to-one reviews with staff in his/her team and schedule and monitor staff training and development.
Has a good overall knowledge of ICT at a conceptual level as a minimum sufficient to manage the ICT provision in their organisation.
They should have completed the ICT Support in Education : Practitioner accreditation followed by the ICT Support in Education : Manager accreditation.
