PHILLIP Dack, school services manager at a Nottinghamshire secondary, is more comfortable than most when handling big budgets.
But the 37-year-old, who worked in school finance for the local education authority, says: “You need more qualifications to be a beautician than to look after a multi-million-pound school budget.”
He is one of the first of 100 bursars graduating from a new training scheme which ministers hope will ease headteachers’ workload.
Mr Dack, who works at South Wolds school in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, said the five-month course had helped him take a more strategic look at his role.
The course covers finance, information and communications technology, human resources, and administration, and leads to a certificate of school business management.
A second pilot starts next month and ministers have pledged to provide 1,000 training places by 2006.
See www.ncsl.org.ukbursar