Foundations of public administration
Explore the foundational skills you need as a civil servant - part of the Government Campus learning curriculum.
Your learning journey begins on your first day and a strong induction will help you to succeed in your new role. You also need to understand your responsibilities and key skills as a civil servant, whatever your role.
Contents
To help you find the learning you need, this page is divided into the following sections:
- Induction
- Core knowledge
- Key skills
You can also explore other parts of the learning curriculum:
- Skills you need to work in government
- Skills you need as a leader and manager
- Specialist skills you need to grow professional expertise
- Domain-specific knowledge you need within your organisation
Induction
If you are new to the Civil Service - or rejoining after a period away - you should register for the online Induction to the Civil Service course. This is free to civil servants and gets fantastic feedback for its flexible, bite-sized learning. For those joining as senior civil servants, Civil Service Orientation provides an excellent introduction to the Civil Service and the opportunity to meet colleagues.
These central courses are just part of the wider induction offer available from your team, organisation and profession, so please take advantage of all these resources. We have collected suggestions and tips from new joiners to make a crowdsourced resource on what good induction looks like - please have a look.
As a follow-on to induction, we recommend the free Apolitical course How to Build Your Career in the Civil Service. Co-created with the Government Campus, the course looks at learning and networking in the Civil Service, alongside tips for applications and interviews.
Core knowledge
To ensure consistency across the Civil Service and that all civil servants understand their responsibilities, we have created some core online learning courses. All of these can be accessed online for free at a time that is convenient for you. It is likely that your department or agency will mandate that you complete some or all of these courses.
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Civil Service Expectations - This course provides an introduction to the Civil Service Code and Values. It also covers the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, why diversity and inclusion matter and what they mean to you as a civil servant.
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Health and Safety - This course explains your role and responsibilities in health and safety.
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Security and Data Protection - This course explains your responsibilities when it comes to protecting and sharing data. The course provides you with an understanding of what the biggest risks are, what you can do to minimise them, and what actions to take.
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Counter Fraud, Bribery and Corruption - This course will raise your understanding of the importance of tackling fraud and of risks and issues relating to bribery and corruption.
Key skills
Everyone in the Civil Service should be a member of at least one profession and have awareness of the key skills of other professions. You can find out more on the ‘Specialist skills you need to grow professional expertise’ page. This includes the whole range of awareness level learning products but we have highlighted the most important of these below, all of which can be accessed online for free at a time that is convenient for you.
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Project Delivery 101 - This course is an introduction to project delivery in government. It will give you an understanding of project delivery methodologies, terminology and best practices to support you to positively contribute to project delivery success.
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Finance Foundations - This course is an introduction to financial management in government. It helps you to understand the importance of managing public money well and your role in securing value for money for the taxpayer. It covers the sources of government finance, as well as financial processes, terminology and accountability.
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Commercial Awareness - This course will give you an understanding of the importance of effective preparation, procurement and management of services as well as the stages of the commercial cycle. It also covers the role and importance of commercial professionals.
Last updated 6 June 2023 + show all updates
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Added links to core learning and a top tips document for new starters
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First published.