Changes to the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) Specification for 2012/13
January 20, 2012 in The information authority Blog by Greta
Hello blog reader and welcome to my latest post. As you can see from the title, this week I am going to be taking a brief look at the next ILR specification, but before that, for those of you who are new to the world of further education (FE) learner data, I should just explain that the ILR is a collection of data about learners in the FE sector, which is gathered by learning providers and processed by the Data Service.
The ILR specification defines what data is collected for each academic year, from 1 August – 31 July. This is where we come in. Any changes to the data collected in the ILR or the collection arrangements must be approved by the information authority board.
The amendments to next year’s (2012/13) ILR have been approved and were published on our website last month. One of the main changes is that all ILR returns for 2012/13 must be in XML format. The Data Service will continue to make the Learner Information Suite (LIS) available to all providers in 2012/13 but the LIS will no longer include a conversion facility to produce XML files, so providers are expected to have the facility to create them without support.
However, the Data Service recognises that a small number of providers may not initially have a system capable of producing an XML file and they will make a temporary alternative method for sending ILR data available to these providers. In 2011/12, this was the provider online system (POL). The arrangements for 2012/13 are still to be confirmed. It is expected that these providers would typically have less than 500 learners.
Your XML ILR files must arrive by specified dates though the year, (which will be published in Appendix A of the 2012/13 spec) but it will only be necessary to send an ILR file if there have been any changes or additions to the learner records since the last transmission was made.
For more details of changes to the spec visit our website to view the 2012/13 ILR Specification
We will be publishing version 2 of the 2012/13 specification, which will include the validation (previously business) rules, towards the end of February.
This week’s news round up:
- Our Software Supplier Group meet on Monday 23 January in Coventry
- A fully searchable 2011/12 ILR specification, with the facility to save your favourite pages for quick reference, is now available on our website
- Reminder: the 2011/12 R06 ILR return is due in on 06 February 2012
All the best
Greta