Adding qualifications

There are two parts to the Qualifications section:

1. Add a Qualification: to enter and record existing qualifications
2. My Qualifications: for viewing qualifications that you have entered

Hint: Either Add a Qualification or My Qualifications will appear in bold to indicate which part of the Qualifications section you are in.

Adding a qualification

• Ensure you have selected Add a Qualification
• Where indicated, add the Qualification / Unit title and Awarding Body
• Click on Search to display a list of possible matches
• For details of the qualification click on the plus (+) sign
• Choose Add to add the qualification
• Fill in your Candidate Number, Registration Number and Date of Certification

Your qualifications will then be validated by e-skills UK and the awarding body. Note the validation service will be available soon.

Hint: You can see a complete list of courses by clicking search without entering any qualification information. This may be helpful if you are having trouble finding your qualification or cannot remember its title.

Completing your self-assessment

There are two parts to the Skills section:

1. Assess my Skills: where you complete a self-assessment to discover your skill level
2. My Skills: displays your skill levels once you have completed the self-assessment

Hint: either Assess my Skills or My Skills will appear in bold to indicate which part of the Skills section you are in.

Assess my skills: completing your self-assessment step-by-step

Assess my skills helps you choose the right level by asking you questions about what you can do in the different skills areas.  It may suggest that you have a look at the level above or the level below but ultimately the choice is yours.

• To begin, click on the Assess link for any technique and click on Go to choose the level that best describes your skills
• You will then be asked a series of questions. For each one answer YES or NO followed by the Submit button
• e-skills Passport will then assess your responses and suggest you look at the level above or level below
• This process is repeated until you have settled on a suitable skills level
• You can then select the Save at this level button
• Complete this process for all skills.

To modify your choices, simply click on the Modify next to the technique you wish to change and repeat the self assessment process.

Inexperienced and Super User levels

These levels consist of one statement and have no questions to answer.

If you choose Inexperienced there is no need to answer any questions.  At this level you feel that you have little or no knowledge in this skill area.

There are also no questions for the Super User level.  Once you are sure you can do everything at Advanced level, you can save as a Super User in this skill area.

Hint: If you wish to return to the skills grid at any time you can click on the Return to skills grid button.

Employer approval

Once you have assessed yourself across all skills you can send your self-assessment to your manager for approval using the Request manager approval button.

My assigned profile explained

You will be able to view this page only if your manager has assigned you to either a qualification or job profile. 

• Qualification profile: defines the skills you need to gain a qualification
• Job profile: defines the skills you need to perform a job role

Once this has been done you will see details of the profile assigned to you.  Skill areas required to meet the profile are displayed and the skill level for each technique is indicated by a red box with a target in it.

For a more detailed view of what individual skills and techniques involve you can click on detailed view.  This will provide you with an option to click a plus (+) sign by each skill and read about what is involved.

Viewing the results of your self-assessment

Once you have completed your self-assessment you may view your current skill level by selecting My Skills.

For each skill area there are two boxes with percentage figures in them:

• The first shows 100%, meaning that you answered yes to 100% of the questions in that skill area.  This is your current level.
• The second box indicates how far towards reaching the next level you are and is determined by the number of YES answers you gave at that level.

For example
In the skill area Operate a Computer, you might have answered 60% of the questions with a YES at advanced level.  The e-skills Passport would then have asked you to look at the level below; intermediate.  Assuming you answered 100% of these questions with a YES, you would have been prompted to save your current skill level at intermediate.

Now if you were to view your skill level for Operate a Computer using My Skills, you would see a box showing 100% at intermediate level, indicating you answered 100% at this level, and another box next to it showing 60%, indicating that you are 60% of your way to the next level.

Viewing options
There are two ways to view My Skills:

• pictorial view (default): providing an overview
• detailed view: shows you a list of can do statements to reflect your YES answers from both your current, and your partial skill levels

Hint: completion of the self-assessment creates your profile.  You can check the status of your profile by looking for a blue box at the top of the screen showing: In Progress; Awaiting Approval; or Profile Approved.

How to register

There are five sections to registration:

1. Username - the username allocated to you will automatically appear in this field and may be changed by typing over it.  e-skills Passport usernames should be between 6 and 20 characters and are case sensitive.

2. Password - you will have been allocated a password on registration but you may change it to something more memorable.  e-skills Passport passwords should be bewteen 6 and 20 characters long, must contain both letters and numbers, and are case sensitive.  You must repeat your password in the Repeat password box to avoid mistakes.

Hint: it is a good idea to make a note of your username and password in case you forget them.

3. Security question - you will be asked to choose from a series of security questions that we can use to identify you.  Once you have selected a question, write the correct answer in the box below.

4. Site agreements - to continue you must agree to our Terms and Conditions and Data Protection notice by checking the boxes.  If you are happy for e-skills UK to contact you, also check the box next to this statement.

Click on Go to be taken to the second part of registration.

5. Registration form - to continue you must fill out this form with your details.  Please note that all fields are mandatory.  Once you have finished click Go.

Once you have finished registering you can start creating your skills profile.

How to plan your learning

There are two parts to the Learning section:

1. Plan Learning: look through courses and plan learning to meet your targets
2. My Learning: view the courses you have added

Hint: Either Plan Learning or My Learning will appear in bold to indicate which part of the Learning section you are in.

Planning Learning

• The Plan Learning page displays a list of skills and techniques
• To access course options for each skill click on the plus (+) sign next to the skill you are interested in
• You will see your current and target levels for each skill and be shown course options to help you reach your targets
• If a qualification or job profile has been assigned to you, the course options will help you progress to the required skill levels to meet that profile
• If no qualification or job profile has been assigned to you, course options to take you one level up will be displayed.
• To see further details of the courses displayed  click on the plus sign next to them
• To add the course to your learning plan click the Add button

Your Targets Explained

There are two parts to the Targets section:

1. View Skills Targets: works as a record of achievement showing your current skill level and how close you are to your target level to determine your learning gap. You may also see details of your existing and targetqualifications
2. My Assigned Profile: allows you to compare your current skill level against your assigned qualification or job profile

Hint: either View Skills Targets or My Assigned Profile will appear in bold to indicate which part of the Targets section you are in.

View Skills Targets
You can view your current and target skill levels iin three ways:

1. Show skill level details
2. Show qualification details
3. Show both

To change between these view options use the radio buttons across the top of the Key.

Show skill level details

This view differs depending on whether your employer has assigned to you a qualification or job profile.

//Profile not yet assigned
If you have not been assigned a profile you will see your current skill level, indicated by a box showing 100%.  This means that you answered yes to 100% of the questions about the skill for that level.

The red box indicates your target skills level with a percentage to show how far towards this level you already are.

//Profile assigned
If your manager has assigned you a profile you can view your skill level for each technique in comparison to the skill level needed for the profile assigned to you.

You may already be at a higher level than needed for a certain technique. If this is the case you will see that the target level indicator is below your current skill level and no further action is required.

If the target level for any given skill is two or more above your current skill level:

• you will see the 100% box at your current skill level
• there will be another box in the level above showing the percentage of your knowledge at this level
• there will be a red box, with a target sign in it and no percentage marking your target level.

For example
A job profile might have been assigned to you where by you need to be at advanced level for the skill Operate a Computer.

If you are currently at foundation level (you answered YES to 100% of the questions at foundation level in your self-assessment) a grey box will appear here with 100% written in it.

If you answered YES to 60% of the questions at the level above, intermediate, a grey box showing 60% would appear at intermediate.

Let us assume however that the target level for the job profile you have been assigned to is advanced for this skill area.  A red box with a target sign would appear at advanced and there would be no percentage displayed.

If, in another case, the target level for the job profile you have been assigned to is intermediate, you would see

• a 100% grey box in foundation
• a red target box at intermediate showing 60% that indicates you already have 60% of the knowledge required to reach this level. 

Show qualification details
Allows you to view details of qualifications undertaken and which skill areas and levels they contribute to.

Show both
Allows you to see both views together.

Detailed view
You are also able to see the different views using the detailed view option.

How reliable are self-assessments?

Receiving emails

To give emails automatically generated by the e-skills Passport system the best chance of getting through, please follow these steps:

1. double check that all email addresses are entered correctly;

2. check your junk email folder regularly and tell your email software to accept emails from us (passportinfo@e-skills.com); and

Where can I find my candidate number?

Your candidate number will be printed on items issued to you on completion of your qualification such as a certificate, logbook or plastic card.

If you are trying to validate a BCS qualification (BCS ITQ, ECDL or ECDL Advanced) and can't find your candidate number, you can contact BCS directly with the following identfying information:

• name;
• postcode;
• date of birth; and
• the name of the centre where you studied.