School secretaries
School secretaries provide administrative support in schools by keeping and maintaining school records and performing a range of routine clerical tasks within the school.
- Employees (UK)
- 23k
- Median annual pay
- £22,155
- Exposure score ?
- 3.3/10 Low 8.5/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 8.5/10 with-tools reading, strict is 3.3/10
- Wage exposure
- £168m £433m
Higher exposure than 90% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.
If you are in this role
Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Complete and mail bills, contracts, policies, invoices, or checks.
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Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer.
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Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages.
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Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints.
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Complete and mail bills, contracts, policies, invoices, or checks.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Office Clerks, General" (43-9061.00).
What AI can already do
8 of 20 tasks, unaided
Complete and mail bills, contracts, policies, invoices, or checks.
Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer.
Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities.
Process and prepare documents, such as business or government forms and expense reports.
Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.
Prepare meeting agendas, attend meetings, and record and transcribe minutes.
Type, format, proofread, and edit correspondence and other documents, from notes or dictating machines, using computers or typewriters.
Troubleshoot problems involving office equipment, such as computer hardware and software.
What still needs a person
12 of 20 tasks
Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers.
Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages.
Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints.
Collect, count, and disburse money, do basic bookkeeping, and complete banking transactions.
Review files, records, and other documents to obtain information to respond to requests.
Open, sort, and route incoming mail, answer correspondence, and prepare outgoing mail.
Complete work schedules, manage calendars, and arrange appointments.
Monitor and direct the work of lower-level clerks.
Inventory and order materials, supplies, and services.
Deliver messages and run errands.
Train other staff members to perform work activities, such as using computer applications.
Count, weigh, measure, or organize materials.
Tasks via O*NET "Office Clerks, General" (43-9061.00).
What AI can already do
15 of 20 tasks, with tools
Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages.
Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints.
Complete and mail bills, contracts, policies, invoices, or checks.
Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer.
Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities.
Review files, records, and other documents to obtain information to respond to requests.
Open, sort, and route incoming mail, answer correspondence, and prepare outgoing mail.
Process and prepare documents, such as business or government forms and expense reports.
Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.
Complete work schedules, manage calendars, and arrange appointments.
Monitor and direct the work of lower-level clerks.
Prepare meeting agendas, attend meetings, and record and transcribe minutes.
Type, format, proofread, and edit correspondence and other documents, from notes or dictating machines, using computers or typewriters.
Inventory and order materials, supplies, and services.
Troubleshoot problems involving office equipment, such as computer hardware and software.
What still needs a person
5 of 20 tasks
Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers.
Collect, count, and disburse money, do basic bookkeeping, and complete banking transactions.
Deliver messages and run errands.
Train other staff members to perform work activities, such as using computer applications.
Count, weigh, measure, or organize materials.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Administrative and secretarial occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons