School Administrator: Job Profile and Role

Which people spring to mind first, when you think about a school? Probably the teachers, the students, and the headmaster or headmistress. All your answers are correct, of course, since a school would not be a school without these people. But there is at least one more person working at a school without whom a school would cease to exist: the school administrator. He or she is responsible for the smooth and effective running of a school.

What this entails, is one of the things we will look at in the following blog. Furthermore, we will look at the expected annual salaries and potential employers as well as the required skills and qualifications. These “hard” facts are followed by insights into a day in the life of a school administrator and three valuable tips for thriving in this important job.

Short Summary

• As a school administrator, you make sure that the school you are working at is run smoothly and cost-effectively.
• As a school administrator, you are tasked with assisting teachers when it comes to developing curricula, planning extracurricular activities, and even hiring new teachers.
• As a school administrator, you are in charge of various administrative tasks, including the school budget, academic records, and compliance with school rules and regulations.

Job description

It is the main job of a school administrator to ensure the smooth and cost-effective running of a school or another teaching institution. As a school administrator, you are responsible for assisting the teachers, for example, when it comes to curriculum planning, extracurricular activities, or the correct filing of academic records. As a school administrator, you can be in charge of the school budget and ensure that your school adheres to national school rules and regulations.

Responsibilities

• Student Welfare
• Crisis Management
• Data and Assessment
• Financial Management
• Regulatory Compliance
• Personnel Management
• Facilities and Operations
• Curriculum Development
• Leadership and Management
• Parent/Community Engagement

Different types of School Administrators

• Bursar
• School Secretary
• Head of Department
• Head of Support Services
• School Business Administrator

Salary

The annual salary to be expected as a school administrator ranges from ￡20,000 to ￡29,000. With the relevant work experience, your annual salary might be as high as ￡40,000, whereas in an even more senior position, you may well earn more than ￡50,000. Besides your work experience and position, your school administrator’s annual wages are also affected by your employer and the location. You can expect to be paid more per year in England, whereas Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland pay lower salaries.

Working hours

Full-time school administrators work between 35 and 40 per week, Monday through Friday. Typically, a major part of these working hours falls into the regular school times. Nevertheless, school administrators tend to have more flexible start and end times for their working days. Note that the working hours can be increased during busy times at school, for example, when planning and setting up a school event. We recommend that you check the overtime policies regarding payment with your employer.

Employers

If you want to look for a job as a school administrator, you have various potential employers at your disposal. One rather obvious choice is schools since they tend to be on the lookout for school administrators. You can also start looking for work in academy trusts, LEAs (local education authorities), universities, MATs (multi-academy trusts), educational consultancies, and even government bodies.

Things you should include in your School Administrator CV

And we start this off with a possibly surprising preparatory factor when planning your Curriculum Vitae. You need to research the relevant keywords that will help you find a job opening as a school administrator. These you can find in the ATS (applicant tracking software). Also, you should always include your professional experience and your educational background in your CV. Lastly, your school administrator’s CV should list your skills and qualifications.

Qualifications

If you want to become a school administrator, you can choose between a college course, an apprenticeship, working towards this role, or applying directly for this role. Typically, you need to have completed your GCSEs with differing numbers and grades, depending on your approach. 

For a college course, you need two or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), whereas the requirement to enter an apprenticeship is four to five GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C). This requirement might also be valid for direct applications. This, you should check with your potential employer.

Note that some employers may prefer applicants who have earned an academic degree, for example, a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in business or administration. Though this is not a requirement, this educational background can work to your advantage.

Skills

As a school administrator, you need to have several skills that help you to do a good job. Administrative skills are obvious skills when you decide to pursue a career as a school administrator. It will also not hurt you to have strong interpersonal skills to deal with all the people you encounter daily in a friendly and professional manner. Let’s take a look at three more skills you should have or develop when you want to work as a school administrator.

Finance-Management Skills

Since you are in charge of your school’s finances, you should have strong finance-management skills when you want to work as a school administrator. You need to make sure that all invoices are paid, that all expenses are declared in the right fashion and that your school’s books are in order at all times. Finance-management skills also help you to stay within projected budgets, meaning that you can cost-effectively run the school.

Engagement Skills

Your engagement skills are closely connected to your interpersonal skills. They not only involve being good with people but also communication skills. Here, you should be proficient in both non-verbal and verbal communication. Add active listening skills to that bouquet of engagement skills and you are all set up for being a brilliant school administrator.

Leadership Skills

At some point in your career as a school administrator, you may want to think about advancing to a different position, say, as the head of the department or the head teacher. Both jobs imply strong leadership skills that ensure that the respective “office holder” can lead, encourage, inspire, and delegate his or her team. Therefore, we recommend that you work on these skills if a senior role is part of your school administrator’s career.

Career Path

As a school administrator, your career starts with an entry-level position. This tends to be the job of a school administrative assistant. With a few years of work experience and good relations with the teachers and superiors, you can progress to more senior roles. Besides the job of a school administrator, you can advance to the job of a senior school administrator. With further qualifications, you can also think about a job change to the teaching profession.

Educational Background

Most school administrators choose the completion of a college course or apprenticeship to qualify for this profession. It may be a requirement to already have completed a Level 2 qualification in administration. Some employers may prefer applicants for the position of a school administrator who have earned an academic degree, for example, in business or administration.

Entry Level

Before you become a school administrator, you will start with an entry-level position, for example, as a school administrative assistant. Here, you gain relevant work experience both in dealing with staff, students, and parents and in working with administrative (digital) tools. An entry-level position for the job of a school administrator also allows you to work on your soft skills and look into further qualifications that might be beneficial to you.

Continuous Learning

Further qualifications and working on your soft skills mean that you need to be on the ball when it comes to continuous learning. Both professional and personal development are included in this. Also, your learning schedule can involve researching the latest administrative tools, new interview techniques, and new teaching methods as well as changes and developments in the British National Curricula.

A Day in the Life of a School Administrator

You now know that a school administrator juggles a wide variety of tasks during a working day. Even though we have told you what a school administrator is responsible for, we have not gone into greater detail. This is what the following section is about in which we will explore three important tasks in a day in the life of a school administrator.

Meetings with Staff and Parents

As a school administrator, you will attend quite a few meetings. These can include meetings with the teaching staff to discuss the school day’s schedule and last-minute teacher substitutions in case one or more of the teachers are sick and off work. You will also meet with the students’ parents. Topics that can be discussed range from school admissions for the coming year, to education levels or potential worries about a student’s behaviour.

Student Attendance

Speaking of the students: as a school administrator, you are also tasked with monitoring their attendance. After all, playing truant is not a preferred way of “attending” at any school, not even at university. One of your daily tasks is to make sure that each student is attending school and lessons. By monitoring this, you will also find out if and how many times one or more students are absent. This matter then needs to be discussed with the teaching staff, the head of the school, and the parents.

Administrative Tasks

As a school administrator, you are in charge of school records, academic reports, and financial budgets. You always need to stay on top of them and make sure that they are both correctly drawn up and filed. You will also spend some time processing and filing invoices and school expenses.

Tips for Thriving as a School Administrator

Each one of your daily tasks as a school administrator has plenty of potential to help you thrive in your profession. How so? By improving the skills and qualifications needed to excel as a school administrator.

In this section, we will give you three invaluable tips for thriving as a school administrator:

• Gain relevant qualifications
• Work on your interview techniques
• Build a strong network

Gain Relevant Qualifications

You may already have some important and beneficial qualifications as a school administrator. However, this does not mean that a few more can hurt – on the contrary. How about earning your NPQH, your national professional qualification for headship? This qualification is perfect – and, in fact, often required – if you are thinking about advancement into the position of a head teacher.

Work on your Interview Techniques

As a school administrator, you are in charge of hiring new staff and admitting new students to your school or university. Both scenarios involve interviews which you, as the school administrator, have to conduct. Therefore, it makes more than just sense to not only have brilliant interview techniques but to also work on and improve them. This way, you will thrive as a school administrator.

Build a Strong Network

One of the key factors of most jobs is a strong network. Knowing a few people – and, more importantly, the ones that can help you advance in your profession – is important and this also goes for the job of a school administrator. Your network should consist of education experts, other school administrators, and education organisations which can provide you with useful information and knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions