Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Ian Davies

Please accept the following information concerning the Governing Body Consultation exercise.

1. Governing Bodies should continue to be fully accountable for anything to do with the school.

2. Governors should not be able to act as individuals and the Body can only act as a whole, as is presently the case. It should be made clear that this also applies to the Chair of Governors who, even in extreme circumstances, should seek the views and opinions of other members of the Governing Body.

3. At least 25% of the Governing Body should be made up of Parent Governors. This includes church schools.

4. Each Governing Body should have a say in local, regional and national school governance.

5. Governing Bodies should not be there simply to “rubber stamp” local or national government policies. If a policy is not suitable for that particular school, there should be the opportunity to challenge it or revise it.

6. There should be a more robust process for complaints about the school. Appeals against decisions made by a Governing Body should NOT be heard or reviewed by other members of that same Governing Body. Another independent panel of school governors should examine such cases. The present process makes it extremely difficult to get past the Governing Body of the school and makes it very easy for the Governing Body to “close ranks” when needed.

7. The Governing Body should have some involvement in ALL school job vacancies, not just that of the leadership of the school.

8. A “retention fee” of, say, £50 should be paid annually to all school governors. This would be recognition for the important voluntary role that school governors fulfil, together with acting as a contribution to sundry expenses such as printing, phone calls, time off work and other incidentals.

January 2013