Level 5 Award, Certificate or Diploma In Middle Management

The NQF (National Qualifications Framework) Level for Middle Managers is Level 5. This is roughly equivalent to HND, foundation degree level or first part of an undergraduate degree. You can find out more about the QCF (Qualifications Credit Framework) on the QCA website or download the PDF that QCA provides by clicking here.

In terms of identifying who might fall into the category of "middle manager", it is usually people who have moved on from management with a team focus to take responsibility for several teams, a department or a functional area such as marketing, sales or a territory or region. Typically a middle manager would have quite a heavy performance management responsibility and would be responsible for hitting financial and performance related targets for themselves and their area of the business. Of course how each organisation uses terminology like this differs, so don't get hung up on the words.

Your middle managers are critical levers in the middle of your organisation -conduits for communication both upwards and downwards. They are your eyes and ears in the middle of the organisation and many of them will be high risers who are destined to take over and drive forwards key functions of your business within the next few years. Typically middle managers become significantly overloaded and stressed with the challenge of balancing day to day fire fighting (which you don't want) with stepping back and fixing some of the underlying problems and challenges that cause the crises (which you do want). Quite often this level still contains people who were excellent "doers" but have missed out on learning how to become excellent "managers".

People in middle management roles are worth investing in. First of all you want to stop them letting the pressure drive them to leave your business by helping them focus, prioritise and delegate. Secondly, the cost of losing a middle manager is significant as it affects a lot of people - all the people who work in their teams, plus the people who rely on services provided by their teams and of course their bosses who will be dragged back to the fire fighting if a vacancy occurs. Finally and most importantly, effective middle managers can make a massive difference to your productivity, efficiency, customer service standards, quality and profitability.

The content for middle manager programmes at NCF Level 5 revolves around deeper understanding and more effective implementation of the core management skills needed to run an effective business:

• Personal development as a manager and leader
• Planning and managing people and resources
• Financial and budgetary control
• Managing stakeholders and quality
• Performance management
• Critical thinking and reflection
• Managing Improvement
• Innovation
• Understanding organisations
• Managing for efficiency and effectiveness
• Enhacing customer value
• Managing Change
• Understanding Leadership

Across the three awarding bodies, different combinations of these kinds of subjects are possible with different kinds of content emphasis. Choosing the right awarding body will enable you to align content to meet your specific organisational development needs.

Level 5 - Middle Managers - Qualifications Available

The Level 5 Qualifications that Croft Centre delivers are:

At level 5, the amount of content for each qualification is roughly as follows. The actual number of units, taught days and guided learning hours vary depending which awarding body you choose:

** Guided Learning Hours include a mixture of:

• Face to Face study
• Own time study - reading, research, implementation in the workplace
• Assignment writing

Within Level 5, you can either run a longer qualification from day one and enable people who don't want to do the whole thing to "stop" at key milestones, or you can start small with a Level 5 Award, then add a few more units and do a Level 5 Certificate and then more still and do a Level 5 Diploma. You can do this over several years if you want to and this more methodical approach is a great way to motivate and develop those First Line Managers who are not destined for higher management, but need to be motivated, developed and supported to do the best possible job at their current level.

Progression from Level 5 is to Level 7 which is a different syllabus where the emphasis is on strategic management rather than tactical.

Assessment at Level 5

We usually design assessments with you based on a library of examples we have, but focused around your organisational needs. At least half of the assessment work at level 5 is written work-based assignments and these are usually between 2000 and 3000 words in length. But other assessment methods are often used such as presentations, completed workbooks, online tests and work based projects.

Overall at level 5 your managers will probably end up doing something along the following lines - each awarding body differs in its requirements and advice:

Assessments are the way in which the Awarding Bodies prove that learning outcomes have been met. There is a set of learning outcomes for each unit you choose for your programme, however you don't necessarily have to do one piece of assessed work per unit - you can often successfully combine learning outcomes for more than one unit in the same piece of work.

Croft centre marks and feeds back on all written work along with carrying out internal verification to ensure common and fair marking standards are kept. All assessment work is periodically reviewed and inspected by the relevant Awarding body.

Level 5 - Middle Managers - Cost Information

All costs are calculated uniquely for you, using your final choice of awarding body, units, number of taught days and so on.

For the financial year 2009/10, based on a group of 15 delegates in one programme, typical costs per delegate for Level 5 qualifications planned and delivered in your organisation by Croft Management Centre fall within the following ranges:

• Level 5 Award in Management - £500 to £700 per delegate plus VAT
• Level 5 Certificate in Management - £1000 to £1300 per delegate plus VAT
• Level 5 Diploma in Management - £1500 to £1900 per delegate plus VAT

Selecting the right kind of course for your middle managers can be confusing. It is a good idea to have an initial conversation with our programme designer Jeremy Hamilton. Contact Jeremy or call him on 01202 461230 - he will be very happy to talk through some options with you.

Middle Managers - let's look at the detail

The NQF (National Qualifications Framework) Level for Middle Managers is Level 5. This is roughly equivalent to HND, foundation degree level or first part of an undergraduate degree. You can download a document here published by QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) which explains this in a diagram.

In terms of identifying who might fall into the category of "middle manager", it is usually people who have moved on from management with a team focus to take responsibility for several teams, a department or a functional area such as marketing sales or a territory or region. Typically a middle manager would have quite a heavy performance management responsibility and would be responsible for hitting financial and performance related targets for themselves and their area of the business. Of course how each organisation uses terminology like this differs, so don't get hung up on the words.

Your middle managers are critical levers in the middle of your organisation. Conduits for communication both upwards and downwards. They are your eyes and ears in the middle of the organisation and many of them will be high risers who are destined to take over and drive forwards key functions of your business within the next few years. Typically middle managers become significantly overloaded and stressed with the challenge of balancing day to day firefighting (which you don't want) with stepping back and fixing some of the underlying problems and challenges that cause the crises (which you do want). Quite often this level still contains people who were excellent "doers" but have missed out on learning how to become excellent "managers".

People in middle management roles are worth investing in. First of all you want to stop them letting the pressure drive them to leave your business by helping them focus, prioritise and delegate. Secondly, the cost of losing a middle manager is significant as it affects a lot of people - all the people who work in their teams, plus the people who rely on services provided by their teams and of course their bosses who will be dragged back to the fire fighting if a vacancy occurs. Finally and most importantly, effective middle managers can make a massive difference to your productivity, efficiency, customer service standards, quality and profitability.

The content for middle manager programmes at NCF Level 5 revolves around deeper understanding and more effective implementation of the core management skills needed to run an effective business;

• Personal development as a manager and leader
• Planning and managing people and resources
• Financial and budgetary control
• Managing stakeholders and quality
• Performance management
• Critical thinking and reflection
• Managing Improvement
• Innovation
• Understanding organisations
• Managing for efficiency and effectiveness
• Enhacing customer value
• Managing Change
• Understanding Leadership

Across the three awarding bodies, different combinations of these kinds of subjects are possible with different kinds of content emphasis. Choosing the right awarding body will enable you to align content to meet your specific organisational development needs.

Level 5 - Middle Managers - Qualifications Available

The Level 5 Qualifications that Croft Centre delivers are:

At level 5, the amount of content for each qualification is roughly as follows. The actual number of units, taught days and guided learning hours vary depending which awarding body you choose:

** Guided Learning Hours include a mixture of:

• Face to Face study
• Own time study - reading, research, implementation in the workplace
• Assignment writing

Within Level 5, you can either run a longer qualification from day one and enable people who don't want to do the whole thing to "stop" at key milestones, or you can start small with a Level 5 Award, then add a few more units and do a Level 5 Certificate and then more still and do a Level 3 Diploma. You can do this over several years if you want to and this more methodical approach is a great way to motivate and develop those First Line Managers who are not destined for higher management, but need to be motivated, developed and supported to do the best possible job at their current level.

Progression from Level 5 is to Level 7 which is a different syllabus where the emphasis is on strategic management rather than tactical.

Assessment at Level 5

We usually design assessments with you based on a library of examples we have, but focused around your organisational needs. At least half of the assessment work at level 5 is written work-based assignments and these are usually between 2000 and 3000 words in length. But other assessment methods are often used such as presentations, completed workbooks, online tests and work based projects.

Overall at level 5 your managers will probably end up doing something along the following lines - each awarding body differs in its requirements and advice:

Assessments are the way in which the Awarding Bodies prove that learning outcomes have been met. There is a set of learning outcomes for each unit you choose for your programme, however you don't necessarily have to do one piece of assessed work per unit - you can often successfully combine learning outcomes for more than one unit in the same piece of work.

Croft centre marks and feeds back on all written work along with carrying out internal verification to ensure common and fair marking standards are kept. All assessment work is periodically reviewed and inspected by the relevant Awarding body.

Level 5 - Middle Managers - Cost Information

All costs are calculated uniquely for you, using your final choice of awarding body, units, number of taught days and so on.

However as at September 2008, based on a group of 15 delegates in one programme, typical costs per delegate for Level 5 qualifications planned and delivered in your organisation by Croft Management Centre fall within the following ranges:

• Level 5 Award in Management - £500 to £700 per delegate plus VAT
• Level 5 Certificate in Management - £1000 to £1300 per delegate plus VAT
• Level 5 Diploma in Management - £1500 to £1900 per delegate plus VAT

Selecting the right kind of course for your middle managers can be confusing. It is a good idea to have an initial conversation with our programme designer Jeremy Hamilton. Contact Jeremy or call him on 01202 461230 - he will be very happy to talk through some options with you.