Kilns for Schools - Online Course

This online course teaches those working in primary and secondary schools how to fire an electric kiln safely and successfully. It covers everything you need to operate a school kiln with confidence: how kilns work, how to fire them correctly, how to choose suitable materials, safety considerations, and how to carry out basic maintenance and troubleshooting.

The course is designed for a school ceramics context – typically hand building and commercial glazes as part of an art or design class – and assumes no specialist background in ceramics or kiln technology.

The course is geared to schools just doing basic ceramics. If you are teaching GCSE, A, AS or Scottish Highers in Art & Design, specialising in 3-D design or ceramics, then you may find the Electric Kilns and Firing course more useful, as it goes into greater depth and more advanced techniques.

I have been making ceramics since 2008, starting with evening classes and then setting up my own studio a couple of years later. Over the years I have owned, fired, maintained, repaired and rebuilt a variety of electric kilns.

With my background in science and engineering, I am drawn to the technical aspects of the craft, but enjoy explaining the technicalities in plain language to those with less technical knowledge. I regularly post on these lines on social media, and have been teaching since 2020, mostly online.

The Kilns for Schools course has been running since 2022 and has helped teachers and technicians across many schools get to grips with their kilns.

By the end of the course you will have learned the following:

Kiln Knowledge

• Identify and understand all the components of an electric kiln and its digital controller
• Understand how kilns heat up and how temperature and heatwork are measured using thermocouples and cones
• Understand what happens to clays and glazes during firing

Firing Operation

• Choose clays, glazes and other materials suited to a school setting and easy to fire reliably
• Load and unload your kiln effectively, with correct shelf spacing and pot placement
• Programme and use your kiln controller, and develop reliable firing schedules for bisque and glaze firings

Safety, Maintenance and Installation

• Understand safety requirements – heat, electricity and fumes – and know how to minimise risks
• Carry out routine kiln maintenance and diagnose common faults

There are several good reasons to do this course rather than relying solely on the kiln manual or informal advice:

• It covers both the practicalities and the underlying principles of using a kiln, so you understand not just what to do but why
• The course is specifically designed for a school context – the materials, the level of ceramics activity, and the constraints you’re likely to face are all taken into account
• I offer personal support throughout, not just on the course content but anything ceramics related. This includes reviewing your clays, glazes and firing schedules and giving you specific recommendations
• CPD: This course counts as Continuing Professional Development for teachers and technicians. It provides documented, verifiable training that can be recorded in your CPD log
• Training requirements: Many schools require staff to have undergone formal kiln training before operating a kiln independently. This course provides that training, with a certificate issued on completion
• The course is suitable for both teachers and technicians – whoever in your school is responsible for operating the kiln

• Three video modules, each approximately 2 hours long
• PDFs of all presentations for offline reading
• Additional resources to explore topics in more depth
• Suggested homework to do with your kiln after each module
• Personal support through email questions or the monthly Ask Me Anything live session
• Access to the Tech section of my website for the duration of the course
• A clay, glaze and firing schedule review: send me what you’re using and I’ll give you specific recommendations
• Course attendance certificate (PDF) suitable for your CPD records
• 7 weeks from your enrolment date to complete the course, extendable if desired

A self-directed online course with access to your instructor:

• You can start as soon as your order has been processed
• Three on-demand modules that you can take at your own pace. Each module has:
  • A video talk (approximately 2 hours)
  • A downloadable PDF of the presentation
  • Optional additional material to go into things more deeply
• Ask questions any time by email
• Monthly “Ask Me Anything” live session (recorded if you can’t attend)
• Premium access to the Tech section of my website
• 7 weeks of access is included, extendable at any time through Patreon for about the cost of a coffee a month
• Course attendance certificate (PDF)

• Teachers and technicians in primary or secondary schools, who are responsible for operating a kiln for ceramics
• Staff new to kilns who need to build their knowledge and confidence from scratch
• Those who trained some time ago and want to refresh and update their understanding
• Staff who are fully competent but need to complete formal training as a school or departmental requirement
• Department heads or administrators booking training for their staff
• Anyone wanting a CPD training record for kiln operation

• Video lectures with subtitles (in English and translated into attendee’s languages)
• Downloadable PDFs in English for offline reading
• Web site is in English
• Email support during the course

1. Understanding the basics
   Types of electric kiln; kiln components; the kiln controller; how kilns heat up; temperature and heat work; thermocouples and cones; the transformations that clays and glazes undergo in the kiln
2. Loading and Firing
   Loading and unloading the kiln; kiln furniture and shelf placement; protecting kiln shelves; bisque and glaze firing; using the kiln controller; monitoring the kiln; firing strategies; matching clays and glazes; firing schedules for bisque, glaze and other types of firings
3. Safety and Maintenance
   Kiln safety: electricity, heat and fire; fumes and ventilation; PPE; pupil safety
   Maintenance: routine maintenance; maintenance schedule; overview of kiln repairs; diagnosing kiln faults

• Do we need to have access to an operational kiln? Not necessarily – often a school may have a kiln, but it can’t be used until someone has undergone a course such as this. You can do the homework exercises on your kiln after completing the course.
• How much time is needed? Around 6 hours as a minimum to watch the three modules. If you want to dive deep into all the additional material, and do all the homework exercises, it could be up to 18 hours in total.
• Do I have lifetime access? You have 7 weeks to complete the course. After that, you can regain access at any time by supporting me on Patreon for about the cost of a coffee a month.
• Do you offer on-site training? Generally no, the travel time and costs would make the course too expensive for many schools, and it would take up too much of my time. Feel free to ask, especially if you are close to Hereford, but note that I would be charging on a day rate for both the course and travel, plus travel expenses. I’d suggest you contact your kiln supplier or maintenance firm for this, though they are generally electricians and kiln engineers, so whilst they can take you through the various controls, they won’t be able to cover the ceramics aspects of my course.
• How technical is the course? This is a technical subject, but the technicalities are explained in plain language for those with minimal prior knowledge.
• Which kiln and controller makes are covered? The videos cover things generically, as there are too many kilns to cover individually. Specific kilns and controllers are addressed through the additional material and through email and AMA sessions. If yours isn’t covered, I’ll happily track down the information you need, and take you through it.
• Do you cover kiln sitters and manual controls? No – the course covers digital controllers only, though most of the content applies equally to kilns with older technology.
• Does the course follow HSE and/or CLEAPSS guidelines for H&S? The Health and Safety taught in the course meets or exceeds current guidelines from HSE and CLEAPSS for the use of ceramic kilns in schools.
• Do you cover glaze defects and other faults? There isn’t time to do that in the videos, but if you’re having a problem I’m happy to help you via email or in the AMA sessions. This is covered fully in the Electric Kilns and Firing course.
• Do you cover general studio H&S issues? This course just concentrates on those associated with the kiln. The Studio Health and Safety course covers all aspects of health and safety in a ceramics studio; or you can browse the information on the Tech website; or ask me via email or in an AMA session..
• Will you answer questions on my specific kiln or firing problems, even if outside of the course content? Yes, definitely. Helping with specific situations is one of the most valuable parts of the course. You get more out of the course, and it makes it more interesting for me. So ask away!
• Is the course recognised for CPD? The course provides structured, documented training and a certificate of attendance. This can be used as evidence of CPD and recorded in staff training logs.
• Is the course accredited by any 3^rd party? No. To the best of my knowledge, there are no formal qualifications in this area.
• The course may be booked by someone other than the person doing it – is that OK? Yes, absolutely. The booking can be made by a department head, administrator or anyone else on behalf of the member of staff doing the course. Just enter the name(s) and email address(es) of the attendees when you make the booking. The person booking gets the admin paperwork, and the participants get their course logins and, at the end, their certificates.
• We have a number of people who need to do the course. How do I book this? Do you offer discounts? To book, select the course once, change the quantity to match the number of participants, and enter their names and email addresses into the box. Discounts are applied automatically: 10% for 10 or more, or 20% for 20 or more. Schools sometimes book together to get the discount, e.g. if in the same education authority or academy trust.
• Can I book and pay on an invoice? Yes, no problem. Go to the checkout and select Direct Bank Transfer. You’ll then be emailed the invoice, with bank payment details. Access to the course will be upon receipt of cleared funds (i.e. I don’t give credit).
• Can you issue a VAT invoice? I am too small a business to require to be VAT registered, so no VAT has been charged.
• Are there any other costs? No, other than the cost of firing your kiln when needed by the homework exercises.
• Is the course suited to those outside of the UK? The course is primarily designed for UK schools, but the principles are universal. Units used are metric. Computer translated subtitles in your language can be added to the videos.

For general questions on my courses, please refer to the general courses FAQ.