ICT Skills Test


To be awarded QTS, all trainees much pass tests in literacy, numeracy and ICT. These tests are delivered online through a series of test centres located around the country. Not all training providers opted to have test centres located on their sites and so you might find your trainees have to book into test centres at other training providers. The booking arrangements are managed via the TDA website – training providers have no influence over when, where and how often their trainees take the tests.

All training providers are issued with sets of Skills Test registration numbers for their final year trainees at the start of each academic year. Once these are distributed, trainee sneed to register to obtain a log-in and password which is emailed to them. They can then book their tests online via the link on the TDA website. They are given the results of each test immediately after it has been taken, but must wait for 24 hours before rebooking should they fail.

As an ICT tutor, you might be expected to prepare trainees for the ICT QTS Skills test. The following table provides an overview of the key skills featured in the test. Trainees will not be tested on all aspects in any one test, but the questions are drawn from a bank which covers all the following aspects.

Key skills covered by the QTS Skills Test:

General skills
Choosing appropriate software to help solve a problem
Dragging and dropping
Having more than one application open at a time
Highlighting
Making selections by clicking
Moving information between software (e.g. Using the clipboard)
Navigating around the desktop environment
Loading and saving files
Navigating between folders and sub-folders
Opening items by double clicking with the mouse
Printing
Using menus
Changing the name of files
Word processing skills
Altering fonts - font, size, style (bold, italic, underline)
Text justification - left, right and centre
Using a spellchecker
Moving text within a document with 'cut', 'copy' and 'paste'
Adding or inserting pictures to a document
Counting the number of words in a document
Adding a page break to a document
Altering page orientation – (landscape, portrait)
Using Characters/Symbols
Using find and replace to edit a document
Using styles to organise a document
Using styles to alter the presentation of a document efficiently
Adding page numbers to the footer of a document
Adding the date to the header of a document
Changing the margins of a document
E-mail skills
Recognising an e-mail address
Sending an e-mail to an individual
Sending an e-mail to more than one person
Replying to an e-mail
Copying an e-mail to another person
Forwarding an incoming e-mail to another person
Adding an address to an electronic address book
Filing incoming and outgoing e-mails
Adding an attachment to an e-mail
Receiving and saving an attachment from an e-mail
Web browser skills
Recognising a web address (e.g. www or co.uk, etc.)
Using hyperlinks on websites to connect to other website
Using the back button
Using the forward button
Using the history
Understanding how to search websites
Using Boolean operators (and/or/not) to narrow down searches
Creating bookmarks
Organising bookmarks into folders
Downloading files from a website
Spreadsheet skills
Identifying grid squares in a spreadsheet (e.g. B5)
Inserting columns into a spreadsheet
Inserting rows into a spreadsheet
Sorting spreadsheet or database columns in ascending or descending order
Converting a spreadsheet into a chart
Labelling a chart
Adding simple formulae/functions to cells
Applying formatting to different types of data including numbers and dates
Presentation skills
Inserting text and images on a slide
Inserting a slide in a presentation
Adding a transition between slides
Adding buttons to a presentation
Using timers in a presentation


From September 2008, the ICT test format has been revised and so you may need to alert students to the changes, particularly if they are referring to guidance which may now be outdated. In summary, the main changes are:Those who are familiar with the previous version of the tests will not notice any immediate differences, but should find that the tasks are a little more demanding and slightly more realistic - given the artificiality and limitations of the testing environment. It is strongly recommended that that the trainees try at least one practice test before booking a test, as the ICT environment presented in the test is somewhat idiosyncratic and can confuse even the most confident ICT user.

A further development of which all ITT tutors should be aware is that from August 31st 2008, the five year period of grace allowed for passing the tests has been removed. Previously, students who had not passed all their skills tests could teach in schools as an unqualified teacher for up to five years, during which time they could retake the tests until passed. For more information on how these changes might affect your trainees refer to the information on the TDA website: Changes to the Skills Test Regulations

Further information about the content of the tests is provided on the TDA website, together with downloadable practice tests and support materials:

http://www.tda.gov.uk/skillstests/ict/practicematerials.aspx

author: Richard Bennett