Open University Awarding Body · RQF Level 3
OU Level 3 Certificate in Democratic Services Practice (QCF)
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits30
- Guided learning120 hours
- Units in this qualification18
Awarded by Open University Awarding Body · on the Ofqual register
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See how this course maps onto your role
Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
About 5 minutes · No card · Nothing to commit to
What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
These are the units Open University Awarding Body registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Behave Professionally in a Democratic EnvironmentReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Show adaptability and innovation
- Communicate effectively with others
- Demonstrate customer focus
- Demonstrate self-management skills
- Show political awareness
- Work effectively with others
Community Governance in local government in EnglandReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the context of partnership working in local government in England
- Understand the requirements for partnership working in local government in England
Executive and the role of Council in Local Government in EnglandReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how the full Council meeting operates in local government in England
- Understand how executive arrangements operate in local government in England
Manage and Publish Information Relating to Decision Making ProcessesReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Store and retrieve information relating to decision making processes
- Make information relating to decision making processes available to the public
- Understand the different types of information systems and the importance of managing them effectively.
Manage and support meetingsReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare for decision making meetings
- Support and record decision making meetings
- Understand how to prepare for decision making meetings
- Understand how to support and record decision making meetings
Organise and coordinate eventsReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare for events
- Provide support at the event
- Undertake support for post event activities
- Understand how to plan and support events
Plan and Implement scrutiny activitiesReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Support the scoping of a scrutiny activity.
- Draft a scrutiny plan which sets down each main scrutiny activity.
- Support the planning of a scrutiny activity.
- Support witnesses during the scrutiny process.
- Support stakeholders during the scrutiny process.
- Draft a scrutiny report on behalf of stakeholders in an agreed style and format.
- Evaluate the scrutiny report against agreed outcomes and plans.
- Understand how to implement scrutiny activities.
Present and advise effectively in a democratic environmentReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Present information pro-actively, in a democratic environment, to elected members and other relevant stakeholders.
- Show an ability to advise, in a reactive manner, in a democratic environment, to elected members and relevant stakeholders.
- Understand how to present and advise in a democratic environment.
Research, analyse and report informationReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Research and record information from a specified brief
- Analyse and report information
- Understand how to research and analyse information
Support elected members’ caseworkReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Collect up-to-date information about constituent problems and elected members casework.
- Ensure information received is up-to-date and as accurate as possible.
- Monitor progress in dealing with constituency and casework issues.
- Draft responses on behalf of the elected member.
- Ensure elected members, colleagues and members of the public are satisfied with the service provided.
- Understand the protocols and procedures in dealing with elected members casework.
Support the Civic Office _or Chairman of an Authority_Real unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Manage a diary system for the Civic Office or Chairman of an Authority.
- Support and prepare the Civic Representative (or Chairman of an Authority) for attendance at Civic events.
- Organise and support civic related events .
- Understand how to advise and inform on all aspects of Civic protocol.
Support the development of elected membersReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Collect up-to-date information on the roles and development needs of elected members.
- Provide elected members the support they require to identify their development needs.
- Produce an agreed elected member development programme.
- Ensure those involved in the development programme have the support to enable them to undertake their role effectively.
- Ensure that there is ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the development programme.
- Understand the support required for the development of elected members.
The Legal Framework of Local Government in EnglandReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the basic legal requirements for local government in England
- Understand the constitutional requirements for local government in England
The Role of Elected Members and Officers in local government in EnglandReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the roles and responsibilities of elected members in local government in England
- Understand the roles and responsibilities of officers in local government in England
The Role of Overview and Scrutiny in Local Government in EnglandReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Understand overview and scrutiny and the role it plays in local government in England
The Structure and Functions of Local Government in EnglandReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the structure of local government in England and its relationship with government in the UK
- Understand the responsibilities of local government in England
- Understand the political arrangements for local authorities in England
Understanding own local authorityReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Know the key features of own local authority
- Understand governance arrangements within own local authority
Working relationships in Local GovernmentReal unit · Open University Awarding Body
What you'll be able to do
- Provide support to elected representatives, colleagues and members of the public in their role in the democratic process, within allocated limits of responsibility.
- Work with elected representatives, colleagues, and members of the public, in a fair and equitable way.
- Communicate and follow agreed codes of conduct and policies.
- Understand the codes of conduct and protocols which are relevant to elected representatives, colleagues and members of the public.
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
- Assist the development of elected members
- Continuously improve local government structures, systems and services
- Contribute to the review of polling arrangements
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships in local government
- Facilitate the implementation of local government legislation, regulations and procedures
- Maintain and develop effective working relationships in local government
- Manage and publish information relating to democratic and decision making processes
- Manage political relationships and lobby for influence
Where this can lead
Event Logistics Assistant
Your journey starts here, learning the foundations of what makes an event tick. With dedication, a proactive attitude, and a continuous desire to learn, you can build a truly exciting and impactful career in the dynamic world of experiential marketing.
See the whole journey →Showing 6 roles, drawn from 45 job records mapped to this qualification.
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your work in any of these jobs
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for OU Level 3 Certificate in Democratic Services Practice (QCF)
18 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Open University Awarding Body.
- Behave Professionally in a Democratic Environment
- Community Governance in local government in England
- Executive and the role of Council in Local Government in England
- Manage and Publish Information Relating to Decision Making Processes
- Manage and support meetings
- Organise and coordinate events
and 12 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.