Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Calderdale Governors Association

1. The purpose, roles and responsibilities of school governing bodies, within the wider context of school governance and leadership

News headlines talk about more responsibility and decision making powers to head teachers whereas the reality is this is actually down to Governing Bodies, who may delegate some powers to head teachers. Government needs to do far more to explain the role and recognise the importance of Governors. More action less talk!

The role of Governing Bodies needs to be much more widely understood—ALL head teachers and deputies should have statutory training to fully understand their role and the Governing Body’s role and how they are accountable to their Governing Body. Too many head teachers operate as if they are the boss, not the Governing Body.

2. The implications of recent policy developments for governing bodies and their roles

To be effective governors need to be truly “independent and objective”. Staff and parent governors need to set aside personal interests, we have too many of both categories who feel they have to agree with the head teacher, for fear of reprisal. There are training issues here too. Since we have to have presentation from both, it is even more important to have all other governors with no conflict of interest.

3. Recruiting and developing governors, including the quality of current training provision, and any challenges facing recruitment

Governing Bodies should be able to recruit for skills required, having due consideration for the representation requirements. They must be able to demonstrate paper trail for fair recruitment practices. Training should be mandatory for all governors, especially Induction Training. Governors should also demonstrate that they are keeping up to date through relevant training—again should provide audit of this. Governors are very dependent on Local Authorities/Governor Associations/Independent providers offering a suitable range of training options in their locality. More needs to be done to enhance the perception of Governors—they are not just amateur do-gooders- they are in fact a vital part of our state education system.

4. The structure and membership of governing bodies, including the balance between representation and skills

This should be down to individual Governing Bodies although it is important that parents are represented in all schools. Equally important are community governors, perhaps Governing Bodies should be encouraged to recruit these from outside the immediate community given the difficulty in recruitment. Local Authority governors are not required in the new world, at least it should be up to Governing Bodies if they want this category. Local Authority governors often receive no specific training for role, they do not represent the Local Authority—their role is to do the best for the pupils and school community.

The recent changes regarding more freedom for Governing Bodies are welcome.

5. The effectiveness and accountability of governing bodies

Ofsted should look at this as an integral part of inspection. There are schools which have been judged good or outstanding where governors have never seen any Raise on Line data, not received reports on quality of teaching and learning etc. These Governing Bodies have been fortunate in that they have strong leadership teams in post. When you have poor leadership and management in school, the GBs inevitably are held to account.

See paragraph 7 also.

6. Whether new arrangements are required for the remuneration of governors

The Chair of governors should be paid a nominal eg £5–10k per annum and it should also be mandatory that governors are paid expenses. If they choose not to claim expenses that’s fine, but others who do not have financial independence should not be made to feel guilty for claiming expenses. This is a cost of running our schools so why should volunteers be out of pocket? The payment for Chairs may help confer some professional status on the role but also would mean prospective Chairs of Governors have to go through a transparent application process, interviewed and appointed by the Governing Body.

7. The relationships between governing bodies and other partners, including local authorities, academy sponsors and trusts, school leaders, and unions

The Government states that school improvement is the responsibility of Governing Bodies yet little has been done to ensure school leaders and Local Authorities actually understand this. The Local Authority has failed to support Governing Bodies seeking to address issues around poor school leadership—especially when the problem is the head teacher. It’s taken far too long to support Governing Bodies to dismiss/discipline head teachers who were clearly incompetent. Equally, the Local Authority has chosen a political action when seeking to address schools causing concern, as opposed to the best course of action to enable that school to improve. Schools should NOT have to go into an Ofsted category before action is taken. There are local examples where nothing has been done for over 2 years despite pleas for help from a succession of Chairs.

There needs to be clarification on the boundaries and limits of responsibility/action between head teacher, Governing Body, Local Authority and DfE. This is especially important as in above when things go wrong.

8. Whether changes should be made to current models of governance

Whilst there is a need for more autonomy for GBs to run themselves as they please, there is also a need for greater accountability and in that sense, structure to what is expected of GBs. How effective is the GB? On balance we are in favour of Ofsted routinely inspecting the effectiveness and accountability of GBs, but this has to be in an agreed comprehensive format if we are to ensure consistency.

9. Role of clerk to the governing body

Too many schools have the school administrator/head teacher’s secretary as the clerk to the governing body. This creates a conflict of interest. We firmly believe professional, independent clerking is essential for all Governing Bodies to operate in an effective way essential to the successful operation of our schools.

January 2013