The seven national-standard SBM competencies
The Department for Education's National Standards for School Business Professionals set seven competency areas. Every credible UK SBM job description, CSBM and DSBM curriculum and ISBA Diploma module maps to these seven, and the framework is the safest anchor for a board's review of the bursar.
The framework
The standards are written for three career stages (entry, established and advanced) and are intended to be used as much for self-assessment and CPD planning as for recruitment. They do not impose a single qualification but they are the assessment spine for the CSBM and DSBM programmes delivered by Best Practice Network.[1]
The seven areas
Finance and resource management
Budget setting, ICFP, SFVS or AAR, value-for-money and the school's audit response.
CompetencyHuman resources
Contracts, TPS and LGPS administration, safer recruitment, single central record and CPD.
CompetencyEstates and facilities
Good Estate Management for Schools, asset register, CIF / SCA bids and routine maintenance.
CompetencyHealth and safety
Fire, asbestos, legionella, lone-working, contractors, IOSH and the DfE H&S advice.
CompetencyICT and MIS
MIS choice, GDPR, cyber, the data-protection officer remit and the school's online learning platform.
CompetencyProcurement and administration
Tender thresholds, contract registers, school office leadership and parental communications.
CompetencyLeadership and strategy
SLT membership, board reporting, sub-committee secretariat and risk register ownership.
How to use them
A useful annual exercise is to map every line of the bursar's current job description against the seven competencies and to flag any line that does not fit. Anything that does not fit is usually either a deputy head's responsibility that has drifted across, or a competency the school has under-staffed in the office team.[2]