Tom Smith (Managing Director, Data Science Campus, Office for National Statistics) launches the Analysis Function Learning Curriculum and talked to us about why he thinks it is an essential tool to help plan your development.
“The Analysis Function (AF) is a community of around 17,000 members working together on the highest priority analytical issues. As a member of that analytical community and as the recently appointed sponsor for the Capability and Community work strand of our function’s strategy, I am dedicated to ensuring that we provide our members with the learning and development opportunities to meet their potential.
Many of the questions we receive as a function revolve around the visibility and access of knowledge: ‘what skills do I need for my role’; ‘what learning is available to support me to develop my skills’; ‘what opportunities are available for me to learn from others?’
Last year we launched the AF Career Framework which sets the expectation of skills needed for typical analytical career paths across government, helping to answer the question of what skills people need for their roles. This year, I’m delighted to launch the AF Learning Curriculum which has started to address issues about visibility of the learning opportunities available. Whether you’re an experienced analyst or brand new to the role, there is something for everyone.
These opportunities have been curated in order for you to easily access what you’re looking for, following the Civil Service Success Profiles structure. You will also be able to see where they fit in with the 70:20:10 model of learning.
I cannot stress strongly enough just how much there is available to us and the importance of continuous professional development, helping us to reach our potential and inform our own career planning for the future. I invite you to take control of your own development. You can use both the AF Career Framework and AF Learning curriculum to help with your planning and I would urge you to take advantage of the excellent opportunities that are signposted.
Whilst the AF Learning Curriculum as you see it is a great starting point, this is by no means a finished product and potentially never will be. As and when we find great learning opportunities to support our members, we will add these to the curriculum. We also want to know what you think; are there any opportunities we’ve missed? Does the structure work for you? Please do email your thoughts to analysis.function@ons.gov.uk
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight one of the opportunities which has just been launched – the Analysis Function Speed Mentoring scheme. Following a successful trial last year, we are re-launching in April 2021. The scheme facilitates the pairing of members across the function, providing you with an opportunity to be a mentor and/or mentee. Run across a 12-month period, mentees will be matched to different mentors once per quarter for a 30 minute mentoring session. To find out more or to register your interest, email analysis.function@ons.gov.uk”
Tom Smith
Manager Director, Data Science Campus, ONS
