1 Introduction
1. The Government's ambition is "that every
school has a high performing governing body that understands its
responsibilities and focuses on its core strategic functions;
one that is made up of people with relevant skills and experience;
and one which operates efficiently and effectively through appropriate
structures and procedures".[1]
2. In September 2012, the Government introduced
regulations allowing local authority maintained schools' governing
bodies to reconstitute themselves to be smaller, with an emphasis
on skills as opposed to set constitutions. On announcing the new
regulations, the DfE stressed that "we will not prescribe
any particular model [of governance], as local governing bodies
are best placed to do this themselves".[2]
However, the new regulations continue to prescribe seven—
rather than nine as previously—of the posts of the governing
body, to include the headteacher, at least two parent governors,
one staff governor, one local authority governor, and foundation
or partnership governors as appropriate.
3. The rapid increase in the number of academies
has had implications for school governance. Governing bodies of
academies must define their own governance procedures subject
to approval by the Secretary of State.
4. Despite some 300,000 individuals serving as
school governors, vacancies on governing bodies continue to be
an issue. The actual number of vacancies is disputed, although
the DfE understands 11% of governor posts to be vacant.[3]
Professor Chris James of the University of Bath explained that
the vacancy picture is complex and overall vacancy
figures may be misleading. Governing bodies with a high level
of vacancies, for example 25%, at the end of one school term may
have none at the end of the next because the vacancies had been
filled. Nonetheless, 2-3% of schools persistently have high vacancy
rates. There is no clear statistical relationship between governing
body effectiveness and [...] vacancies.[4]
5. The National Governors' Association has found
that a large proportion of governing bodies have difficulty in
finding skilled governors.[5]
The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) has also observed
that there is "significant evidence" that governors
are recruited for their representative role rather than for a
particular skill-set.[6]
6. Vacancies are a particular issue for primary
schools, and Ofsted judgments have found primary school governance
to be considerably less effective on average than that seen in
secondary schools.[7] In
her 2010/11 Annual Report, the former Chief Inspector of Ofsted
found "considerable variations" in the quality of governance
across different types of school. Governance was judged good or
outstanding in 53% of pupil referral units, 55% of primary schools,
64% of secondary schools and 71% of special schools.[8]
7. In September 2012, the Ofsted inspection framework
was updated to include a much sharper focus on school governance.
Governors are now assessed as to how well they support and challenge
school leaders and hold them to account for the quality of teaching
and pupils' achievement, behaviour and safety. The framework will
also cover the management of finances, including the use of the
pupil premium to overcome barriers to learning. Ofsted's evaluation
criteria incorporate five core functions for good governance as
developed by the National College. The new framework also places
a much greater emphasis on tackling underperformance in schools,
recommending external reviews of governance where a school both
requires improvement and has weak leadership and management. It
also allows Ofsted inspectors to recommend that an Interim Executive
Board is set up quickly where a school is in need of special measures.[9]
8. Our inquiry set out to look at the existing
role of governing bodies, and the implications of recent Government
policy developments in education for them, as well as a range
of issues concerning recruitment, reward and responsibilities.
The evidence base for our inquiry
9. We announced our inquiry on 5 November 2012,
with the following terms of reference:
- the purpose, roles and responsibilities
of school governing bodies, within the wider context of school
governance and leadership
- the implications of recent policy developments
for governing bodies and their roles
- recruiting and developing governors, including
the quality of current training provision, and any challenges
facing recruitment
- the structure and membership of governing bodies,
including the balance between representation and skills
- the effectiveness and accountability of governing
bodies
- whether new arrangements are required for the
remuneration of governors
- the relationships between governing bodies and
other partners, including local authorities, academy sponsors
and trusts, school leaders, and unions
- whether changes should be made to current models
of governance.
10. We received over 90 written submissions from
a range of organisations and individuals including governors,
local authorities, national governor infrastructure bodies, training
providers, unions, academics, Ofsted and the Department for Education.
We held three oral evidence sessions, hearing from five panels
of witnesses:
- serving school governors, the
National Governors' Association
- headteachers, Ofsted and Professor Chris James
of the University of Bath
- School Governors One Stop Shop (SGOSS), GL Education
Group, National College of School Leadership (now the National
College of Teaching and Leadership) and National Co-ordinators
of Governor Services (NCOGS)
- local authorities, NASUWT, The Haberdashers Company
- the Minister, Lord Nash, and a DfE official
11. We also held a seminar with school governors
and visited Denmark and the Netherlands as part of our evidence
gathering.
12. We would like to thank our standing specialist
adviser, Professor Alan Smithers, for his assistance with this
inquiry.
1 Ev 55, para 3 Back
2
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/governance/maintained/b00218871/govbodymaintainedschools Back
3
Ev 57, para 23 Back
4
Ev 84, para 3.2.2 Back
5
Ev 71, para 3.1 Back
6
Ev 110 Back
7
The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector 2010/11, page
66 Back
8
The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector 2010/11, page
66 Back
9
The Schools Inspection Handbook, Ofsted, April 2013, para
127; Sir Michael Wilshaw, speech to the NGA Conference, 16 June
2012 Back
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