Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by The Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools (AGBIS)
1. The Association of Governing Bodies of Independent School (AGBIS) has 751 members representing approximately 850 independent schools, the large majority of which are charities. The Association’s object is the advancement of education in independent schools. The Association pursues its object by providing advice, support and training for governors of independent schools. The Association was founded in the 1940s and has four employees, two of whom work part time. The publication “Guidelines for Governors” is revised regularly and sets out the principles of good governance which AGBIS promotes.
2. The Association’s services are available to non-members. This year AGBIS provided training for governors of a primary school which had recently become an academy. The AGBIS Board is committed to encouraging its members to work in partnership with governors of maintained schools in any mutually beneficial way. This theme of partnership with governors of schools in the maintained sector will be a prominent feature of the Annual Conference and AGM on 11 March 2013.
3. AGBIS believes that in all schools the Governing Body should be responsible for determining the aims and overall conduct and should do so in consultation with the senior leadership. The senior leadership is responsible for the implementation of the strategy agreed by the governors. They should expect the support of the governors and also recognise their accountability to the governors.
4. Governors need to exercise fine judgement over establishing an appropriate balance between challenge and support. They also need to recognise that their responsibility is collective, that they should focus on the school’s strategy and outcomes, avoiding unnecessary and unhelpful discussion of management detail. The role of governors is a non-executive one. Governors, and sometimes Governing Bodies, too frequently stray into management detail, overlooking their important strategic responsibilities and invariably causing lines of responsibility to become blurred. This misguided approach to governance, with its confusion as to who is responsible for what, does not encourage strong, effective leadership but rather shields weak and indecisive performance from heads and senior leaders through not concentrating on what matters. It also wastes time.
5. AGBIS welcomes recent policy developments and announcements concerning governance and the recognition that good governance matters so much to the success of schools. The recent analytical study undertaken into school governance by the University of Bath we consider particularly helpful in identifying and promoting good practice in the area. AGBIS appreciates invitations to be involved in the evolution of school governance in the maintained sector, including through participation in meetings of the All Party Parliamentary Group. It hopes that its experience of governance of independent schools will prove beneficial to those responsible for governance of maintained schools and it wishes to make that experience available more widely. It sees this co-operation as a two way process.
6. The recent awareness of the importance of relevant skills on governing bodies, evident within both the independent and maintained sectors, is beneficial and needs further emphasis. Eighty% of schools represented by the Independent Schools Council are charities. Those schools’ governors are charity trustees. It is not appropriate for trustees of a charity to be employed by the charity, thus there is virtually no tradition of teachers serving on the governing bodies of independent schools. Those present at governors’ meetings, invariably the Head, the Bursar and occasionally others, are there in attendance, not by right. This arrangement works well with no confusion over the employer/employee relationship, no inherent conflict of interest and less concern over how to manage the confidential issues which inevitably arise from time to time in governors’ meetings.
7. The history and structure of governing bodies of maintained schools is different from those of many independent schools. But the importance of key skills on governing bodies and governors’ ultimate responsibility for the performance of the school differs little between the two sectors. This time of increased concern over schools’ accountability and the evolving nature of many schools in the public sector suggest that serious consideration be given to moving away from the stakeholder model towards recruitment of school governors largely, if not entirely, based on the experience and commitment of the individual governor. While many teachers no doubt contribute valuably to governors’ strategic discussions, the confusion between employer and employee is a flaw which is likely to increase in importance as more schools become responsible for themselves as academies. Moreover, there is a danger that the presence of teachers on schools’ governing bodies might lead discussions towards management detail and could well cause the concerns of the teaching staff to predominate over the interest of the pupils and those of the school as a whole. Were the model to change as we recommend, heads and selected teachers could attend governors meetings at the discretion of governors, as currently in independent schools.
8. This Association is opposed to payment of school governors in any circumstances. Agreeing to be a school governor is a laudable form of service which payment would compromise. Prior to the last election much was made of the importance of service to the community which this Association welcomed. We hope that the vision of service will be sustained and that volunteering will be promoted by all available means. There are fundamental issues over who might be paid for what and who would be accountable to whom. Money is not available and, if it were, there are better ways of using it; governor training is one. The current shortage of school governors should be addressed by other realistic, imaginative means.
9. Governors’ ultimate responsibility for the performance of the school we regard as fundamental and beyond compromise. That is how it has to be if the nation’s schools are to be responsible for their own destiny and provide for young people as they need and deserve. Inevitably there will be those who welcome the opportunity to be involved, to contribute substantially to their community through school governance and who thrive on responsibility. And there will be plenty who lack the skill, experience and courage to volunteer. The current shortage of school governors is serious. It needs to be addressed, not by unrealistic, unproductive consideration of payment but by a carefully considered, imaginative programme of support. There should be a deep confidence that serving as a school governor is intensely satisfying and that a well designed support programme would lead to more people with the skill and commitment volunteering to serve. That support should be designed around:
Sympathetic training, particularly over regulatory compliance, a frequent source of anxiety.
Ruthless elimination of bureaucracy.
Promotion of efficient meetings with recognition that governors’ time is limited and precious.
Continued encouragement of employers supporting employees who volunteer.
December 2012