Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the London Councils
This response is submitted by London Councils. London Councils is a cross-party organisation lobbying the government and others on behalf of our member councils to protect and enhance council powers so they can do the best possible job for their residents and local businesses.
Executive Summary
1.1 The education system is changing dramatically across England as Government reform takes hold. The rise in the number of Academies and Free Schools is creating a more autonomous schools sector which places more responsibility on their governing bodies to ensure the school management team is delivering a high quality education to all pupils.
1.2 Schools in London are the best performing at both secondary and primary level and London local government is committed to ensuring that they continue to thrive. Governing bodies play a key role in overseeing the continuous improvement of schools, by both supporting and challenging the school leadership team, but in many cases they need support to be able to fulfil this role effectively.
1.3 The Schools Minister, in his recent speech at the LGA on 4 December, clarified that local authorities have an ongoing strategic role in school improvement. He stated “if local authorities want to retain their important role in schools then they must act when schools in their areas need to improve.” In this context, it is important that local authorities have effective communication routes into all local schools.
1.4 Community governors form a vital link between a school and its local community. London Councils feels strongly that this role should be strengthened in the new system in order to ensure that schools are able to reflect the needs and interests of local people. Community governors also provide an important information conduit between the local authority and the school which is essential in order to deliver the best education for all local children. This is why we are calling for all state funded schools, including Academies, to have at least one governor appointed by the local authority, on behalf of the wider community.
1.5 London Councils recognises that quality of governors can be inconsistent and often they are not able to monitor and challenge the school management effectively. We feel that there is a key role for local authorities to play in offering more comprehensive training and support for community governors, which could be rolled out more widely to all governors where appropriate.
Main Submission
2 The purpose, roles and responsibilities of school governing bodies, within the wider context of school governance and leadership
2.1 London Councils feels that all governing bodies should provide a mix of both support and challenge to the Head Teacher and leadership team. It is important that the governing body has sufficient information, expertise and influence to be rigorous in challenging issues as soon as they emerge and expect their recommendations to be acted upon by the school leadership team in order to effect change.
3 The implications of recent policy developments for governing bodies and their roles
3.1 The education system is changing dramatically across England as Government reform takes hold. The rise in the number of Academies and Free Schools is creating a more autonomous schools sector which places more responsibility on their governing bodies to ensure the school management team is delivering a high quality education to all pupils.
3.2 Conversion to academy status removes a school from the family of local authority maintained schools and, by default, central support services provided by the local authority. Governing bodies for Academies therefore will need to scrutinise the procurement decisions made by the school leadership team and oversee the effectiveness of the delivery of these services. It will therefore become increasingly important for governors to have finance and business acumen.
3.3 With the changing dynamic between schools and local authorities, governing bodies in Academies will need to monitor the effectiveness of the ongoing relationship between the school and local authority. This should include scrutinising how support is delivered to vulnerable pupils, such as those facing permanent exclusions or with an SEN statement, where the local authority has statutory responsibilities. If a governing body does not feel its school or local authority is managing support for vulnerable pupils effectively, it should feel confident that it can intervene.
3.4 Given the Government’s emphasis on peer learning and the reduction to many local authorities’ school improvement services, all school governing bodies need to look at what learning they can take from their wider family of local schools to improve their own school’s performance and management. In many areas local authorities have facilitated education improvement partnerships that will help support this type of learning.
4 Recruiting and developing governors, including the quality of current training provision, and any challenges facing recruitment
4.1 London Councils feels that the current level of provision available for developing governors is insufficient to meet the ongoing improvement challenge facing London’s schools. This is why all the London boroughs have pledged to improve support on offer to their community governors. There may be an opportunity to roll this out more widely to all governors, where appropriate.
4.2 Governor recruitment is a significant issue for London’s schools. London Councils has identified a number of challenges around recruiting high calibre governors in London, including:
Shortage of overall applicants.
Mixed quality of potential governors.
Lack of governors from the local communities in which schools are located.
4.3 London Councils is currently looking at ways to encourage more potential candidates, particularly those with specific expertise and experience, to apply to become governors in London.
5 The structure and membership of governing bodies, including the balance between representation and skills
5.1 At present only local authority maintained schools have community governors appointed by local authorities, and this is no longer a statutory requirement for governing bodies.
5.2 Community governors form a vital link between a school and its local community. London Councils feels strongly that this role should be strengthened in the new system in order to ensure that schools are able to reflect the needs and interests of local people. Community governors also provide an important information conduit between the local authority and the school, which is essential in order to deliver the best education for all local children. This is why we are calling for all state funded schools, including Academies, to have at least one governor appointed by the local authority, on behalf of the wider community.
5.3 Given the more critical role of governors in a more autonomous system there are a number of skills that they will increasingly need to support the school management, such as financial and business acumen. However, the most important skill that they should bring to a governing body is a confidence and ability to constructively challenge Heads to improve school effectiveness.
6 The effectiveness and accountability of governing bodies
6.1 As stated above, London Councils feels that many governing bodies need training and ongoing support to be fully effective in holding their schools to account. To this end London local government has agreed to support community governors with an enhanced training offer, and there may be scope to roll this out more widely to all governors, as appropriate.
6.2 Community governors play an important role in representing the views of the local community to the school governing body. The local authority is well placed to support community governors in this role, particularly through sharing local intelligence. Therefore London Councils feels it is important that regular communication channels are set up between community governors and local authorities. This would ensure that the governing body receives the support and additional information it needs to robustly challenge the school and that local authorities have access to early information about emerging issues in order to act, where appropriate. Some London boroughs have developed their own mechanisms to do this, for example through termly meetings for all community governors.
7 Are new arrangements required for the remuneration of governors?
7.1 London Councils does not have any comments on this area.
8 The relationships between governing bodies and other partners, including local authorities, Academy sponsors and trusts, school leaders, and unions
8.1 It is essential that all schools maintain good relationships with local authorities, whatever their status. Local authorities remain responsible for over 100 statutory duties in relation to children, such as managing exclusions, admissions and school places, securing appropriate provision for vulnerable pupils and safeguarding children. To fulfil these duties in the best interests of pupils, local authorities need to have regular communication with schools. A school governing body can help to ensure that information is being shared between the two in a timely and efficient manner.
9 Should changes be made to current models of governance?
9.1 Please see answers to question 5.
January 2013