N4/N5 Admin & IT 

The key purpose of this Course is to develop your administrative and IT skills by: 

• Giving you an understanding of administration in the workplace and key legislation which affects employees. 
• Giving you an appreciation of good customer care allowing you to develop IT skills and using them to perform administrative tasks. 
• Allowing you to acquire the organisational skills to organise and supporting small-scale events. 

The Course contains a significant practical/IT component.  This will involve using word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation software.  In addition, you will use the Internet to carry out research, send e-mails and use an electronic diary as appropriate.  

By studying this Course you will develop a range of essential skills which will stand you in good stead regardless of the career path you choose.  It also supports your other subjects through its emphasis on IT. 

Course Structure 

The AdministXration & I.T course consists of 3 units: 

Administrative Practices 

The purpose of this Unit is to give learners a basic introduction to administration in the workplace. Learners will begin to appreciate key legislation affecting employees, key features of good customer care and the skills, qualities and attributes required of administrators, data protection and information security. 

Communication in Administration 

The purpose of this Unit is to enable learners to use IT to gathering and share information with others in a business context. From electronic task management, creating presentations to collecting and collating information online learners will develop a basic understanding of what constitutes a reliable source of information and an ability to gathering and share this in a professional manner. 

IT Solutions for Administrators 

The purpose of this Unit is to develop learners’ basic skills in IT, organising and processing simple information in familiar business-related contexts. Learners will use the following IT applications: word processing, spreadsheets and databases, to create and edit simple business documents 

Course Assessment 

To gain the award of the Course, a learner must pass all of the Units as well as the Course assessments which are shown below: 

NAT 4 Assignment 100% which is marked internally. Course award is either Pass or Fail.  

NAT 5 Assignment 70 marks and QP 50 marks which are both marked externally by SQA. 

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Higher Admin & IT  

This course provides students with the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge to deal with situations of an administrative nature and to analyse the use of IT in an administrative and business context. The course places an emphasis on the development of problem solving and decision-making skills and is appropriate for those seeking careers within the modern business environment.  

Course Structure 

The course helps candidates to develop advanced administrative skills and digital literacy, enabling them to contribute to the effective functioning of organisations in supervisory administrative positions. They develop the ability to use a range of advanced software application functions covering word processing, spreadsheets, databases and emerging technologies.  

Candidates develop understanding of:  

• The importance of administration theory in the workplace including strategies to support effective time and task management and the importance of effective teams. 
• Advanced digital literacy skills and how to use them to process, manage and communicate information. 
• Organisational and management skills in the context of organising and supporting the workplace using electronic research skills to source complex information  

Course Assessment  

In the Higher course, 58% of marks in the final assessment are from the practical ICT assignment which has a total mark allocation of 70 marks. It is usually undertaken in March and the remaining 42% (50 marks) from the written question paper based on Administrative Practices in April/May.