Frequently Asked Questions about the SEA and the Courses
1. What is the School of Educational Administration
2. Are you a trade union?
3. Who funds the SEA?
5. What other websites do you run?
6. What is the status of the National Certificate in Educational Administration course?
7. Is the National Certificate in Educational Administration a full time course?
8. How much work will I need to put in to complete the course?
9. Do I have to go on tutorials?
10. How much does it cost?
11. Does the course just relate to the law and regulations in England?
12. When is the next starting date?
13. Is this like the NCSL courses for bursars?
14. Does it help me get a job?
15. Can I see any part of the course in advance of signing up?
16. I am searching for information but can’t find it on this site
17. Do I have to sign a contract if I sign up for the course?
18. I have completed the CSBM. Is there any value in doing the Certificate in Educational Admin?
19. I work in a Scottish school where the law is different. Is the course still applicable to me?
ANSWERS
1.What is the School of Educational Administration
The SEA is the body that oversees the running of the National Certificate in Educational Administration course. Throughout the school term we publish the Administrators’ Newsletter (sent free of charge to all schools in the UK), and we run the school administrator’s website www.admin.org.uk
2. Are you a trade union?
No, we exist simply to fulfil the functions listed above. We do suggest that school administrators should consider joining a trade union, and we suggest that you might contact Voice in this regard
3. Who funds the SEA?
The SEA was initially funded in part by businesses involved in selling into schools, and by the Dept of Trade and Industry through the KTP scheme. Since then the SEA has been funded through income from the National Certificate in Educational Administration Course, and through contributions from the companies that participate in the mailing of information to schools via the SEA. The SEA also derives an income from the sale of reports on this site.
5. What other websites do you run?
We also operate www.schools.co.uk through which you can link your school’s website to the national database of school web sites. Click here to go directly to the form.
We also operate www.top5.org.uk through which you can find suppliers of services and products for schools.
6. What is the status of the National Certificate in Educational Administration course?
The course is validated by the Institute of Financial Accountants. The course is recognised by the Council for Administration, and is recognised by the NCSL as a suitable introduction to their level 4 courses (subject to other entry criteria). It also has QCA accreditation.
The CSBM is recognised by a number of higher education institutions as equivalent to year 1 of a first degree course.
7. Is the National Certificate in Educational Administration a full time course?
No – it is a one year part time course. But you can now do one unit from the course as a 2 month course.
8. How much work will I need to put in to complete the course?
We recommend that students allow 4 hours a week for study.
9. Do I have to go on tutorials?
No – the tutorials are organised on line, so you are given a topic to discuss, you send in your very short thoughts on the topics, read what your fellow students say, and then send in your reply to that – and again follow their views. This can be very stimulating as students come from different parts of the UK, and different types of schools, and so have their own approaches to problems which many schools face.
10. How much does it cost?
£850 plus VAT for the full course and £199 plus VAT for the short course. If the full course is paid for in one payment at the start of the course, it is reduced to £800 plus VAT. We find most local authorities are now willing to pay for the course, as they are starting to recognise the value of training administrators in terms of the efficiencies this will lead to. But if you have a problem with your school or local authority refusing to pay for the course, let us know and we will follow it up.
11. Does the course just relate to the law and regulations in England?
There is a unit on Education and the law and some of this does relate to English law – although it also cites EU directives. However there is no requirement that you need to learn about specific Acts – where we do mention these we do so as examples and guidance as to the way one should handle issues such as health and safety, personal data, human rights etc. The unit on the law is optional in that you do not have to do the essay on this unit, as you can choose one of the other units instead.
We have had a number of students from Scotland, N Ireland and the Channel Isles, and they have not reported any problems with this unit. Otherwise there is no bias towards or against any part of the UK, or the Channel Isles, in the course.
12. When is the next starting date?
For both courses we are currently increasing the number of dates on which we start the course to 5 per year - January, March, May, June and September. The next date for applications is always displayed on the home page
13. Is this like the NCSL courses for bursars?
No – this course is very different from the National College of School Leadership courses. Those courses tend to be more closely related to specific topics that one can learn the facts about. Our course focuses totally on the issue of making the school more efficient and effective through changing the way administration works. Thus although there is a unit on (for example) leadership, this is not there to teach you theories of leadership, but to help you recognise the style of leadership that is being used in your school. Being able to recognise such a style of leadership can be helpful as you prepare to put forward a new idea or suggested improvement to the bursar, deputy head or other manager.
To take one other example – we don’t tell you how to use a specific piece of software, but we do deal with topic of upgrading software, the reasons for upgrades and the problems upgrading can cause – and how you can avoid them.
14. Does it help me get a job?
It would be wrong to say that a particular individual gained a position in a school because he or she had gained this qualification – obviously many other factors will apply. And schools do not normally state that they will only take a person who has gained this qualification.
However some students have told us that the course has resulted in them being treated in a different way by their school – resulting in them becoming more centrally involved in the planning and management of administrative matters.
We believe much will depend on what you make of the course – for if you say to a prospective employer, “I took the Cert Ed Admin course, and as a result I helped the school introduce a new method of handling unauthorised absences. This reduced the workload in the office by 10% and allowed us to….” That sort of statement could really be impressive on a job application.
15. Can I see any part of the course in advance of signing up?
Yes – click here to go to the School Efficiency Project – which is an optional part of the course.
16. I am searching for information but can’t find it on this site
Please do email us with your question. Send emails to Tony@schools.co.uk
17. Do I have to sign a contract if I sign up for the course?
Yes - you can see our terms and conditions here.
18. I have completed the CSBM. Is there any value in doing the Certificate in Educational Admin?
We are sometimes asked to comment on the differences between the National Certificate in Educational Administration course and the CSBM course run by the National College.
Obviously the SEA is not unbiased in this matter - we run the National Certificate and have no input into the CSBM course. What we can do is make some observations, but these must be seen as coming from one of the parties involved.
With that proviso, here are my comments.
To my mind, the National Certificate in Educational Administration course is significantly different from the CSBM course in that it focuses on the improvement of efficiency in the school. The SEA's course does not focus primarily on teaching you how to do things - instead we focus on how to re-work what administrators do in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.
Let's take an example. A school administrator might be required to follow up pupils and students who are absent from school but whose parents have not contacted the school to give an explanation. The administrator might find from time to time that some of the parents called claim that the child is at school - and further investigation reveals that this is right - the teacher has made an error.
For the teacher this might not be a major issue - he or she does not have to face the parent. But for the administrator this can be a very unpleasant situation - facing an angry parent, with very little explanation other than "we made an error".
We consider issues like this in the course, and look for resolutions. In discussions some administrators have said that they have tried to resolve the situation via a third party, such as the deputy head, but with no luck. Yet this is a hugely important problem, because the existence of the problem means the school is being very inefficient. Not only is the situation unpleasant, it is a massive waste of time and resources in undoing a very simple error that should not have occurred. The school's reputation is also being harmed.
These are the sort of topics we face. Of course there is more than just a set of examples of problems - there is a lot of background material too, and much of that is factual - but at the heart of the issue everything on the course is geared up to making your work more interesting and the work of the school more efficient and effective.
Some of our students have commented that the biggest thing they get from doing our course is the additional respect shown to them by managers. Our course looks at the boundaries between managers and administrators and suggests that these boundaries should be changed - and in bringing this idea to fruition those people taking our course suggest that they are looked upon in a completely new light by the managers in the school, which really helps the way the school runs. What's more, after taking the course the administrators will have a much more powerful array of ideas to take into an interview for any future job.
For these reasons we do think that administrators who have taken courses elsewhere will still benefit from our National Certificate course because it explores areas that, as far as we know, other courses do not touch.
19. I work in a Scottish school where the law is different. Is the course still applicable to me?
As you'll know there are three areas of legislation in the UK - UK law which applies to the whole UK, law which differs between the four parts of the UK and EU Directives. In the course, where legislation is mentioned, we distinguish between the different types and if we do mention legislation that is country specific we separate this out.
However, a broader point - the course is not particularly about legislation, which changes all the time. It is more about focussing on issues within the school, knowing how to find information, and being able to negotiate with others in the school to make matters work properly in accordance with the law.
For example, (and this is just one very specific example) if the school were to get a complaint from a parent about the temperature of a classroom, or if a member of the admin team were to feel that the temperature in the office was excessively high... what is needed is
a) someone who can find out exactly what the current law and EU directive says for your part of the UK
b) someone who can then take that information to the appropriate manager and (perhaps) say, "actually we have to be doing something here" and then making sure that the issue is not shelved with a "leave it with me" approach.
Thus, although we do cover some legislation, that's not our prime concern. It is to look at how the whole organisation works, and to look at why some schools end up breaking laws simply because no one has taken the situation seriously. The course takes the view that knowing the law isn't the key thing - because it is easy to use the internet to find the legislation (or indeed email the SEA). The biggest problem is making sure that people in the school actually follow procedures. (As an example some research I received recently suggests that 50% of design and technology rooms are breaking the law in terms of the quality of the air. The problem is not a knowledge of the law, but the fact that no one in the school is taking responsibility to check that the Head of DT is acting in an appropriate manner).
We've had a significant number of students from Scotland take the course, as well as students from the Channel Isles, and indeed other parts of Europe - all without any problem in relation to issues of legislation.
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