Guidance.help

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary is the O*NET name for people who plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools. With a code of SEC, this is mostly a job for people drawn to helping, teaching or caring for people. Enterprising interests also help, rated 5.3 out of 7. The preparation level is extensive preparation, typically graduate school and often five years or more of related experience. O*NET’s skill data points to learning strategies, active listening, and speaking as the ones to build. A regular part of the work is to counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues. If you want helping, teaching or caring for people, keep it on your list. If you need hands-on work with tools, machines or the physical world, it may feel thin.

What they do

Plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools.

Main tasks

  • Counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues.
  • Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities, policies, and student behavior or learning problems.
  • Observe teaching methods and examine learning materials to evaluate and standardize curricula and teaching techniques and to determine areas for improvement.
  • Determine the scope of educational program offerings, and prepare drafts of course schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility requirements.
  • Enforce discipline and attendance rules.
  • Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff.

Skills

  • Learning Strategies
  • Active Listening
  • Speaking
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Writing

Who this career fits

May suit you if

  • You get energy from helping other people move forward.
  • You like taking the lead and making the call.
  • You are prepared for graduate-level study and a long training path.
  • You are comfortable relying on learning strategies and active listening.

May not suit you if

  • You find a full day of dealing with people draining.
  • You want to work with your hands for most of the day. Realistic rates 1.3 out of 7 here.
  • You want to be working in the field within the next few years.

Interest profile

O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code SEC takes the three highest, and Social comes first here.

Preparation

Extensive preparation. Many jobs here need graduate study, and people often spend five years or more building specialist experience.

Also called

  • Athletic Director
  • Curriculum and Instruction Superintendent
  • Curriculum Director
  • Elementary Principal
  • K-12 Principal (Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Principal)

Related careers

Is this your direction?

See how your interests line up with SEC and 906 other careers.

Take the career test

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.