Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the City of Leicester Governors Association (COLGA)
1. Examples of Perceptions of Loss of Authority
1.1 Head Teacher performance should be Governor led with the Chair of the review panel organising the meeting and leading the discussion around objectives. The external SIP has an advisory role to play for both the HT and governors involved in the review. It is unfortunate that following a review process it is no longer a requirement that governors involved in the HT performance review must have completed the performance management training provided by Governor Services. However COLGA feel that it should be. All governors should undertake the training in order to understand the process involved in a school setting.
1.2 Governors should not be presented with building operations with unrealistic deadlines for approval. The issues relating to property ownership and buildings should always be presented to appropriate governors with time to respond after due consideration. Too often deadlines are imposed which are unrealistic and lead to poor decision making.
1.3 Governors should have more status/equality in discussions with their HT. The partnership should be one of equals.
1.4 Governors should have the authority to terminate employment of Clerks to the Governors.
1.5 Governors should retain the power to pay appropriate staff to clerk all sub-committees.
1.6 Governors should retain the power to appoint Head Teachers.
1.7 Governors should have the right to decide for themselves whether their school should become an Academy and should have no external force applied to that decision.
1.8 Governors should be able to write to the M.P. in whose constituency the school is situated and expect the M.P. to respond to legitimate concerns
2. Representation within the Local Community of Schools
2.1 Governors should be represented on all local committees and boards concerned with pupil places, education and restructuring of schools, discussions with local authorities, standards and local SEN provision etc.
3. Provision of Information and Resources
3.1 Recent legislation has increased the responsibilities of governors without providing extra resources to ensure they can carry out those responsibilities.
3.2 Governing Bodies should have automatic right of access to sources of data about their schools eg Raise on Line etc.
3.3 Governors should have the timely right of access to information held by local authorities and central government about their schools.
3.4 Governors should be able to appoint and reward appropriate administrative support to carry out tasks felt necessary by governors.
3.5 To ensure appropriate membership on governing bodies it should be possible to support governors who need to be released from their normal employment during school hours. If necessary child-minding support should be available.
4. Responsibility of Individual Governors
4.1 There needs to be a mechanism to check inappropriate action by governors especially in relation to the HT. The HT needs a mechanism for appeal against sacking or suspension which provides a realistic process.
4.2 Governors must attend meetings regularly.
4.3 Training for Chairs and Vice-Chairs should be made compulsory.
4.4 On-line training should be quality assured and readily accessible.
January 2013