ISEB and ISTQB Tester Certification Explained

Level 1 - Foundation

The Foundation Certificate in Software Testing is the entry level of certification for testers. It introduces basic testing theory and tests this with a short multiple choice examination covering recall, understanding and simple application of techniques. Exams are administered by ISEB in the UK and several other countries as well as at online testing centres, and by other local examination bodies elsewhere such as the Irish Testing Board in Ireland. All courses and exams are based on the same international syllabus and glossary produced by ISTQB and are therefore equivalent.

Level 2 - Practitioner / Advanced

At level 2 there are separate schemes from ISEB and ISTQB. Both schemes are broadly equivalent and as a tester you therefore have a choice of the ISEB or ISTQB scheme, both of which are based on the same ISTQB Glossary and build on the ISTQB Foundation Syllabus. The table below contrasts the key features of each scheme:

Level 3 - Diploma / Expert

In due course there will be a third level of certification. Neither ISEB nor ISTQB have made any firm announcements though we understand the current thinking to be different from each organisation:

• ISEB's vision is for a Diploma level where people broaden their perspective and also take qualifications in other ISEB-supported areas. The ISEB qualification portfolio includes a number of exciting qualifications in areas such as project management, requirements engineering, development and service management. ISEB have stated that they “will start development work on a higher level qualification at the end of 2008 with the aim for it being available in Quarter 3 2009.” though no further details are yet available.
• ISTQB's vision is for people to narrow their focus and specialise in more detailed aspects of testing, such as automation or performance testing. ISTQB have a working party for their Expert level and work has commenced on defining the structure and syllabus but no release dates are currently available publicly.
• Both alternatives have their relative merits and SQS will offer training towards these exams and as soon as each organisations outlines their plans we will update you on our position.

Additional Notes from above

[1] K levels refer to Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, a hierarchy of educational objectives. It is used to help us consider what levels of education are required and helps us create meaningful and measureable learning objectives and methods of assessment (how we prove learning has occurred and the learning objective has been met). There are 6 levels of learning: Level 1 – Knowledge: Recall of facts, methods, procedures or structure; Level 2 – Comprehension: Accurately explain, determine effects, select or interpret; Level 3 – Application - To apply what has been learned to other situations or tasks; Level 4 – Analysis: Comparing, contrasting, and separating a whole into its components; Level 5 – Synthesis: Original or imaginative thinking, creating a new whole from parts; Level 6 – Evaluation: Judge solutions, set up standards.