Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the Department for Education

Introduction

1. The Government welcomes this inquiry as an opportunity to recognise the dedication of the hundreds of thousands of volunteers who serve as school1 governors who are passionate about supporting and improving their schools. High quality governance is crucial to the accountability and performance of both maintained schools and Academies. The Government’s reforms seek to apply to governance the principles of trust, accountability and transparency that drive its thinking in other areas.

The Government’s Vision for School Governance

2. The significance of governing bodies’ role has in the past been under-valued. Governing bodies are the key strategic decision makers in every school. As part of the overall system for school accountability they have a vital role to play in driving up school and pupil performance and ensuring every child receives the best possible education.

3. The education system is changing rapidly and the system for school governance must enable governing bodies to play their part. The Government’s ambition is that every school has a high performing governing body that understands its responsibilities and focuses on its core strategic functions; one that is made up of people with relevant skills and experience; and one which operates efficiently and effectively through appropriate structures and procedures. The Government’s role is to put in place the framework to enable this to happen, through reforms that apply the principles of trust, accountability and transparency.

4. The Government trusts governing bodies to make decisions in the best interest of their schools and to decide for themselves how best to constitute and operate. The Government is therefore cutting back on central prescription and freeing governing bodies from unnecessary rules and regulations—particularly those that restrict their ability to recruit governors with the skills and experiences appropriate to their needs and circumstances. It is also funding SGOSS,2 the governor recruitment charity, to help governing bodies recruit new governors with the skills they identify they need, extending leadership development training to support chairs of governors, and has introduced the concept of National Leaders of Governance building on the successful National Leaders of Education model.

5. A clear and robust system of accountability is as vital to driving up the quality of governing bodies as it is to driving improvement in the quality of the schools they govern. The Government therefore welcomes Ofsted’s new and explicit approach to governance and awaits with interest the outcome of pilots of external reviews of governance in “requiring improvement” schools. It is local authorities’ role to ensure governors in maintained schools achieve value for money from their resources, while the Department’s accountability regime for Academies, bolstered by company and charity law, is set out in the Academies’ Financial Handbook. The Department for Education will respond robustly where inadequate leadership and governance in a school is failing children and a sponsored Academy solution is likely to be the best way forward, including by replacing as necessary the governing body with an Interim Executive Board. The Department is likewise committed to intervening in cases of Academy underperformance.

6. Transparency is fundamental to empowered leadership and accountable decision making. Governing bodies need transparency on precisely what is expected of them, and they need transparency on the performance of the schools they govern. National and local government, parents and others need transparency on the effectiveness and impact of governing bodies in raising standards of education. The Department for Education therefore welcomes the clear description provided by Ofsted within its Inspection Framework of the role and nature of high quality governance; it is in the process of improving the information it provides to governors about their statutory duties; and it supports work by Ofsted and others to improve governors’ awareness and understanding of essential school performance and financial data.

7. Further detail on the range of reforms in place and planned is provided in response to the Committee’s specific areas of interest below.

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

8. The government believes that high quality governance in all types of schools is characterised by a relentless focus on three core strategic functions:

(a)Setting vision, ethos and strategic direction.

(b)Holding head teachers/principals to account for teaching, achievement, behaviour and safety, and challenging and strengthening their leadership.

(c)Ensuring finances are managed well leading to probity, solvency, and effective use of financial resources.

9. These functions are reflected directly in the new criteria that Ofsted inspectors will use when considering the effectiveness of governing bodies—see page 43 of the Inspection Handbook from September 2012.

10. They are also reinforced in statue by Section 21(2) of the Education Act 2002 which states that the purpose of maintained school governing bodies is to “conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement at the school”.

11. Some governing bodies, including all Academies, have additional responsibilities associated with being employers, admission authorities; or charitable trustees and company directors. Such responsibilities are aligned with, and in no sense contradict, the core functions above.

12. The Ofsted Inspection Framework 2012 recognises school governance as an integral part of the overall leadership and management of a school. It is a key role of governors to appoint and then performance manage the head teacher/principal—including through rigorous analysis and interpretation of performance and financial data. The senior leadership team is responsible and accountable to the governing body for the day-to-day management of the school. The right relationship between the governing body, especially the chair of governors, and the head teacher/principal is key to making a reality of school-level accountability.

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

13. Governing bodies operate in a rapidly changing environment characterised by increasing deregulation and autonomy—including through the Academy programme, and a strong focus on school-led improvement, public accountability and the responsibility for achieving value for money in terms of the quality of education children receive from the resources available. Recent policy developments seek to respond to this context to ensure that school governance is fit for purpose.

Continued expansion of the Academies programme

14. An important decision for governing bodies is whether they want to take control of their school and budget as an Academy. Some schools become sponsored Academies when poor governance and management has led to sustained underperformance. For all other schools, however, Academy status is a choice made by the governing body, and the Government believes that the Academy programme is the stronger for it.

15. Academy status brings considerable additional freedom and flexibility—including in relation to governing body constitution. Governance arrangements are set out in an Academy trust’s articles of association and agreed with the Department for Education before the school converts. As the Academy programme expands more schools are forming multi-academy trusts (MATs)—a number of Academies that are all part of a single charitable company. Each MAT has one overarching board of directors (governing body) and at a local level for each individual Academy either a local governing body (with delegated executive functions) or advisory body (with no executive functions but which can advise the board). MAT governance arrangements can be flexible and reduce the need for large numbers of governors. Economies of scale can also be gained across the MAT structure—for example sharing skills, training and other resources.

The Ofsted Inspection Framework from September 2012

16. Governing bodies provide a crucial layer of school-focused accountability for pupil performance and education standards. It is essential that they themselves are also subject to scrutiny and a robust system of accountability based on clear expectations.

17. The new Inspection Framework from September 2012 is intended to help recognise and celebrate high quality governance and provide a strong incentive for improvement to weak governance arrangements. It has a specific focus on the effectiveness of governance as a central part of the overall judgement on the quality of a school’s leadership and management.

18. The Inspection Handbook sets out a number of criteria that provide a clear description of the characteristics of high quality governance. Every inspection report will contain an explicit comment on the quality of a school’s governance in light of these criteria. Where governance is weak in a school that “requires improvement”, inspectors may recommend an external review of governance arrangements. Ofsted and the National College are working together using National Leaders of Governance to trial these reviews before full roll out in 2013.

De-regulation

19. Governing bodies are best placed to define how they operate, and the Government wants to give them greater freedom to do so. It believes that governing bodies’ approach should reflect and respond to specific local circumstances, with regulations focused on giving them the powers that allow them to operate, not on constraining them with unnecessary bureaucracy.

20. The Government has already introduced less prescriptive constitution regulations for maintained schools (discussed in more detail below), and a further full review of all other regulations and guidance is currently being undertaken, in consultation with a wide range of interested parties, to develop proposals for stripping out unnecessary requirements and give governing bodies the greatest flexibility possible in managing their business. The Department for Education will consult shortly on proposals to repeal Terms of Reference3 regulations and amend Procedures regulations4 to leave governing bodies to operate more efficiently and effectively, free from unnecessary burdens and constraints.

21. The unwieldy 260 page Governors Guide to the Law is being re-written into a shorter more concise plain English Handbook for all governors. Building on the approach of the recently republished Academies’ Financial Handbook, this will focus on the essential information that governors need about their key responsibilities.

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

22. The Government believes that governors are best placed to decide the size and make up of their governing body and identify what training or development they need. Its priority is to create the flexibility for governing bodies to take and act on these decisions, and to make targeted interventions to address two key gaps in the market—brokerage for the recruitment and placement of skilled governors (through SGOSS) and leadership development training for chairs of governors (through the National College).

23. The Government is aware of data that suggests that the average vacancy rate currently carried by governing bodies is approximately 11%. However, the highest priority and key challenge for recruitment is not to make up numbers but to ensure that every governing body has people with the necessary skills and experiences so that it can carry out its demanding functions effectively.

24. The best governing bodies identify the skills and competencies they need—including in relation to their ability to deal effectively and confidently with their responsibilities for financial oversight. They audit regularly the skills of their current members and actively manage recruitment and professional development activities to address any gaps.

25. There are a range of options available to governing bodies for supporting their training and development. It is for governing bodies to review the opportunities available in the market, and identify and select the most suitable to their needs and budget. Support may be available from:

(a)local authorities—the Government is aware that many local authorities have made decisions to scale back their governor support services and that the nature and quality of these services varies across the country;

(b)commercial governor support organisations;

(c)umbrella bodies such as the National Governors’ Association or Freedom and Autonomy for Schools—National Association; and

(d)the National College.

26. The National College became an Executive Agency of the Department for Education in April 2012. It has expanded its offer to governing bodies by:

(a)licensing providers across the country to deliver high quality leadership development training to chairs of governors and aspiring chairs of governors from October 2012;

(b)appointing 70 outstanding chairs of governors as National Leaders of Governors to offer peer-mentoring support to other chairs of governors—an additional 100 will be recruited by March 2013; and

(c)developing a website accessible to all governors providing access to a range of good practice information and resources.

27. The Department for Education has recently confirmed that it will continue to fund SGOSS, the governor recruitment charity, over the period 2013–15 to offer a free service to Academies, schools and local authorities to help them recruit highly skilled new governors. Through strong links with a range of employers, SGOSS is able to recruit and place over 2,000 skilled governors a year from business background into maintained school and Academy governing bodies.

28. SGOSS has demonstrated that there is a good supply of skilled people willing to serve as Governors. A key challenge in extending SGOSS’ reach and increasing the number of volunteers placed is encouraging schools to be open to new influences and focus on recruiting governors for their skills.

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

29. Governing bodies are best placed to decide on their structure and membership. The Government wants to give them greater discretion in these decisions to enable them to focus on recruiting people with the skills and experience they need to carry out their demanding functions.

30. Current rules and regulations on the membership of Academy and maintained school governing bodies are based on a stakeholder model of governance that focuses on securing representation from a wide range of interest groups. Representation need not be at odds with a focus on skills—for example parent governors may bring valuable skills to the governing body. However, representative structures do not in themselves necessarily lead to high quality governance—for example to a good relationship between a governing body and the local authority or to good parental engagement. The Government’s prime interest is in promoting the nature of high quality of governance, not in prescribing the means by which this is achieved. Its priority is therefore to reduce the extent to which the constitution of a governing body is prescribed in central rules and regulations.

31. Available research5 suggests that the average size of primary maintained school governing bodies is around 12 to 15 governors, with some reaching 20 to 25 in size. Maintained secondary school governing bodies were found to be larger with an average of around 17 to 18 governors, with the largest being up to 30 governors in size.

32. Since September 2012, maintained school governing bodies have been able to opt to reconstitute according to new simpler and more flexible regulations that prescribe seven, rather than nine of their posts. All governing bodies created or reconstituted after 1 September 2012 will do so under the new regulations. Those constituted prior to this may remain as they are or opt to reconstitute according to the new regulations.

33. Academies enjoy greater freedom than maintained schools in the constitution of their governing body. The Department for Education is currently reviewing the Model Academy Articles to consider how it might increase these freedoms further.

34. The rules and regulations on the constitution of maintained school and Academy governing bodies are summarised in the tables in Annex A. Further detail on the role and structure of Academy Trusts is provided at Annex B.

The effectiveness and accountability of governing bodies

35. As the key strategic decision making body in every school, the quality of the governing body is crucial to the success of the school and the performance of its pupils. However, Ofsted data for the academic year 201011 show that governance judgements are consistently lower than those for school leadership overall, in both primary and secondary schools. Governing bodies need to be responsible and accountable for their own effectiveness and quality through a robust and explicit system of scrutiny.

Effectiveness

36. The Government is aware of a number of reports that highlight the characteristics of effective school governance—including reports by Ofsted, the National College sponsored Fellowship Commission,6 and others as set out in Annex C. Among other things, these reports emphasise the importance of governing bodies understanding their strategic role, having the necessary skills including the ability to interpret data to take difficult decisions, and having strong leadership with a productive relationship with school leaders. The Secretary of State has asked Ofsted for further advice on what makes for effective school governance.

37. To achieve the very best for the children in their school, governing bodies will benefit from regular reflection on their own effectiveness and performance. A number of organisations have worked together under the auspices of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Governance to identify 20 key questions that may help governing bodies with this process of self-evaluation.

38. The Government believes that it is a matter for governing bodies to decide what experience or training would be desirable when appointing a clerk. It welcomes work by SOLACE and the NGA who are working together to raise the profile of the role of clerks and explore what training or support may be necessary to drive up the quality of clerking.

Accountability

39. Maintained schools and Academies operate within the overall system of accountability set out in the Department for Education’s Accountability Statement.7

40. The Government believes that clear and robust accountability is fundamental to incentivising and driving improvement in school governance. Governors are volunteers and the Government recognises and values the dedication of the many thousands who are committed to improving their schools. However, it rejects any suggestion that their status as volunteers should exempt them from public scrutiny. High quality governance is essential to driving up pupil and school performance, and weak governance needs to be identified and addressed.

41. Ofsted’s approach to governance (summarised above under recent policy developments) provides essential and proportionate scrutiny; data published by the Department for Education and Ofsted provides transparency on school performance; and financial scrutiny by local authorities of maintained schools and external audit of Academies secures good stewardship by governing bodies of public funds. Taken together, these mechanisms provide a necessary quality benchmark and an appropriate level of accountability.

42. Where a school has poor standards, or there are other aspects of its operations that are failing, it is essential that governance is strengthened quickly and effectively to ensure that pupils receive a good standard of education. For this reason there are a range of powers for local authorities and/or the Secretary of State to intervene quickly and decisively where governance is failing.

43. Local authorities have the power to issue a Warning Notice to a maintained school where there has been a serious breakdown in the way the school is managed or governed which is prejudicing, or likely to prejudice, standards of performance. The Secretary of State also has powers to direct a local authority to consider giving, and subsequently to direct a local authority to give, such a warning notice. Where a maintained school fails to comply with one of these warning notices or is judged inadequate by Ofsted (eg is judged to require special measures or require significant improvement) the school is “eligible for intervention” by either the local authority or the Secretary of State. Where a maintained school is eligible for intervention the local authority or Secretary of State may intervene directly to impose an Interim Executive Board to replace the failing governing body; the Secretary of State also has the power8 to appoint additional governors.

44. Local authorities set the financial requirements for maintained school governing bodies, within a national framework. A maintained school’s right to a delegated budget may be suspended by the local authority where it is eligible for intervention as set out above, or where there has been a failure to comply with the requirements of the delegation or financial mismanagement.

45. In Academies, the Secretary of State has direct powers to give an Academy a warning notice where there has been a breakdown in management or governance. If the Academy fails to take the action which is necessary to comply with this warning notice then the Secretary of State has various powers of intervention including powers to terminate the Funding Agreement to ensure a change in the Trust controlling the Academy.

46. Since 1 August 2011 Academies, Voluntary Aided schools and Foundations schools have been exempt charities. This means instead of being registered with and regulated by the Charities Commission, the Secretary of State for Education is their Principal Regulator.9 This means it is the Secretary of State’s duty to do all that he reasonably can to promote the charity trustees’ compliance with their legal obligations in exercising control and management of the voluntary or foundation school or Academy Trust. Where either the Department for Education or Charity Commission has identified concerns about the control and management of the administration of an exempt charity it will notify the other party and include information about any charity law issues it has identified, before it advises the relevant body of any action it proposes to take. The Department for Education may ask the Charity Commission to use any of its regulatory powers or indicate that those powers may be required at some stage during the conduct of the case. The Department for Education and Charity Commission have entered into a memorandum of understanding10 setting out how both parties will work together; it includes details about the regulatory powers of both parties.

Whether new arrangements are required for the remuneration of governors

47. The Government recognises that being a school governor, particularly a chair of governors, is a demanding role and believes that it is crucial that governing bodies seek skilled and high quality people to serve as governors. It does not, however, believe that there is a proven need or robust case for diverging from the voluntary principle underpinning our system of school governance by introducing payment to school governors. It is encouraged by reports from the National Governors Association that a majority of existing school governors agree.

48. Maintained schools and local authorities do not have the legal powers to pay governors, and in line with Charity Law, Model Academy Articles prohibit the payment of Academy governors. Powers do exist for local authorities or the Secretary of State to pay members of Interim Executive Boards.

49. Practice on the payment of IEB members varies across the country. In line with the principle above, the Secretary of State does not offer payment, though some local authorities do. The Government is aware of the arguments in favour of payment, particularly for this more challenging and time-intensive form of executive governance, and will keep the situation under review.

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

50. As the key strategic body responsible and accountable for making decisions in the best interest of pupils, if they are to do their job effectively it is important that governing bodies have a good relationship with, and understand the views of, pupils, parents, staff and the wider local community.

51. Since 2007, governing bodies of all maintained schools in England have been under a duty11 to have regard to any views expressed to them by parents of registered pupils at the school in exercising their functions. It is for individual schools to decide how and when to seek parents’ views.

52. The relationship between governing bodies and school leaders is crucial, particularly in creating effective accountability for school and pupil performance. The National College will be working with the National Governors Association to explore good practice in relationships between heads and chairs of governors. Nine workshops will be held in February and March 2013, each with 50 pairs of heads and chairs of governors, and case studies and recorded interviews will be disseminated via the National College website.

53. Local authorities have an important relationship and responsibility for the schools they maintain. This includes their quality assurance and intervention role—and, as explained above, they may intervene through issuing Warning Notices, imposing Interim Executive Boards and suspending delegated budgets. Many local authorities also provide governor support services—offering training, advice and clerking services to local schools.

54. Foundation, voluntary controlled and voluntary aided school governing bodies have a specific and important relationship with the foundation or trust that appoints a minority or majority of their governors. Foundation governors are appointed to preserve the religious character of schools that have a religious ethos, and to secure that schools are conducted in accordance with the foundation’s governing document including, where appropriate, any trust deed relating to the school. The Instrument of Government sets out who can appoint and remove foundation governors.

55. An increasing number of schools have a relationship with an Academy sponsor or with other Academies as a sponsor themselves. Academy sponsors are instrumental in turning around failing schools offering them a fresh start through setting a new vision, introducing new ways of working, and sometimes investing new funding. A summary of the relationship between Academy governing bodies, Academy trusts, and Academy sponsors is provided in Annex B.

Whether changes should be made to current models of governance

56. We have a robust model for school governance in England rooted in the principle of voluntary service. The Government trusts governing bodies to make decisions in the best interest of their pupils and believes they are best placed to determine how to operate effectively. It is committed to giving them greater freedom and discretion while also increasing transparency and accountability. The reforms set out above will help to achieve this.

57. As autonomy and deregulation become established, including through growth in the number of Academies, the Government is keen to learn lessons for national policy from Academies, Multi-Academy Trusts and maintained schools who develop innovative and effective new models of governance.

58. The Government will keep under review the need to develop more permissive forms of governance which give governing bodies more freedom in how they construct themselves according to local needs and appoint the governors they need and want locally rather than having to follow one national model.

Annex A

CONSTITUTION REGULATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

MAINTAINED SCHOOL CONSTITUTION—2007 REGULATIONS

	Foundation/trust governors	Partnership governors	Parent governors	Staff governors (including head teacher)	LA governors	Community governors	Sponsor governors
Community1	N/A	N/A	1/3 or more	At least 2 but no more than 1/3	1/5 exactly	1/5 or more	Optional—Up to 2 in primary, 4 in secondary
Foundation with no foundation2	N/A	At least 2 but no more than 1/4	1/3 or more	At least 2 but no more than 1/3	At least 1 but no more than 1/5	1/10 or more	Optional—Up to 2 in primary, 4 in secondary
Foundation with a foundation that appoints a minority of the GB	At least 2 but no more than 45%	N/A	1/3 or more	At least 2 but no more than 1/3	At least 1 but no more than 1/5	1/10 or more	Optional—Up to 2 in primary, 4 in secondary
Qualifying Foundation	Up to a majority of 2 over all other categories of governor	N/A	At least 1 (when counted with foundation governors who are parents must equal 1/3). Must also have parent council where trust appoints a majority	At least 2 but no more than 1/3	At least 1 but no more than 1/5	1/10 or more	Optional—Up to 2 in primary, 4 in secondary3
Voluntary controlled	At least 2 but no more than 1/4	N/A	1/3 or more	At least 2 but no more than 1/3	At least 1 but no more than 1/5	1/10 or more	Optional—Up to 2 in primary, 4 in secondary
Voluntary aided	Overall control of GB Majority of 2 over all other categories of governor	N/A	At least 1 (when counted with foundation governors who are parents must equal 1/3)	At least 2 but no more than 1/3	At least 1 but no more than 1/10	N/A	Optional—Up to 2 in primary, 4 in secondary4

Table Notes:

¹ Including community special schools and maintained nursery schools

² Including foundation special schools

³ Additional foundation governors may be appointed to preserve foundation majority

⁴ Additional foundation governors may be appointed to preserve foundation majority

MAINTAINED SCHOOL CONSTITUTION—2012 REGULATIONS (SCHOOLS MAY OPT TO ADOPT)

	Foundation/trust governors	Partnership governors	Parent governors	Staff governors (including head teacher)	Local authority governors	Co-opted Governors
Community1	N/A	N/A	At least 2	Head teacher + 1	1	As determined by the GB and no more than 1/3 where they are also eligible to be elected as staff governors when counted with the staff governor and head teacher.
Foundation with no foundation2	N/A	At least 2 but no more than ¼	At least 2	Head teacher + 1	1	As determined by the GB
Foundation with a foundation that appoints a minority of the GB	At least 2 but no more than 45%	N/A	At least 2	Head teacher + 1	1	As determined by the GB
Qualifying Foundation	Overall control of GB A majority of up to 2 over all other categories of governor	N/A	At least 2	Head teacher + 1	1	As determined by the GB
Voluntary controlled	At least 2 but no more than ¼	N/A	At least 2	Head teacher + 1	1	As determined by the GB
Voluntary aided	Overall control of GB Majority of 2 over all other categories of governor	N/A	At least 2	Head teacher + 1	1	As determined by the GB

Table Notes:

¹ Including community special schools and maintained nursery schools

² Including foundation special schools

CONSTITUTION REQUIREMENTS IN MODEL ACADEMY ARTICLES

	Principal Sponsor governors	Parent governors	Local authority governors	The Principal	Staff governors	Co-opted Governors	SoS Governors	Any other eg community governor
Academy governing body	As determined by Members (A majority of governors must be appointed by sponsor if sponsored Academy)	At least 2	No more than 1, as determined by Members	ex-officio governor	As determined by the members—can make up no more than a third	As determined by the members—maximum of 3	As appointed by SoS	As determined by the members

NB: As a company, the Local Authority and Housing Act prevents the Trust (at both member and governor level) from being local authority influenced. No more than 19.9% of governors can therefore be associated with a local authority (as defined in the Act).

Annex B

ACADEMY GOVERNANCE

Structure

Academy trusts have two layers of governance:

The members, who are the owners of the company and whose functions include:

Overseeing the achievement of the objectives of the company.

Taking part in general meetings.

Appointing some of the governors.

Signing off the company’s accounts and annual report.

Amending the constitution of the company (that is, the articles).

The governors, who together make up the governing body with the same three core functions of governing bodies in the maintained sector, namely:

Setting the strategic direction.

Driving up performance and holding the senior leadership team to account.

Ensuring financial probity.

Because the academy trust is both a company and a charity, the governors are also company directors and charity trustees. These duties are largely complementary.

In practice, members have limited practical involvement in the management of the company and the governing body exercises most of the powers and carries out most of the duties of the academy trust.

The governing body of a multi academy trust can set up a sub-committee called a local governing body for each Academy, to which it can delegate powers. If it does not do this, it must as a minimum have an advisory committee for each Academy (advisory committees do not have any powers delegated to them by the governing body).

Composition

The constitution of an academy trust is set out in its articles of association which are agreed with the Secretary of State before the company is formed. The current model articles set the following requirements:

Single academy trust:

There must be a minimum of three governors, but the model articles do not set a maximum.

The principal sponsor (if there is one)/members appoint the majority of governors.

The Principal is a governor if he/she chooses to be a governor.

There must be a minimum of two parent governors.

Up to one governor appointed by the local authority (this is optional).

Staff governors (optional).

Co-opted governors. The governing body may appoint up to three (optional).

Secretary of State’s governors. Only appointed where Academy is in serious difficulty.

Multi academy trust:

There must be a minimum of three governors, but the articles do not set a maximum.

The principal sponsor/members appoint the majority of governors.

The Chief Executive is an ex officio governor.

There must be a minimum of two parent governors for every ten or fewer Academies.

Staff governors (optional, but the model articles include this as a prompt).

Co-opted governors. The governing body may appoint up to three (optional).

The chair of governors of the local governing body for each Academy is a governor. If there are more than five Academies in the chain, they elect five to serve as governors.

Secretary of State’s governors. Only appointed where Academy is in serious difficulty

The Secretary of State may appoint governors, if standards are unacceptable; there has been a serious breakdown in management or governance; safety is threatened; the Academy drops two Ofsted grades; special measures. The governors appointed by the principal sponsor or the members must resign.

Additionally, in some older multi academy trusts the Secretary of State may appoint up to two governors where he has given notice to terminate the funding agreement.

Annex C

EVIDENCE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE

Effective governance is based on:

Governors undertaking a strategic role (Ofsted 2011, McCrone et al, 2011), with a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities (Balarin et al, 2008; McCrone 2011) and the role of the head teacher (Ofsted 2011). Governors should be “fully involved in the school’s self-evaluation and using the knowledge gained to challenge the school, understand its strengths and weaknesses and contribute to shaping its strategic direction” Ofsted (2010).

Governors being able to take and support hard strategic decisions in the interest of the pupils (Ofsted 2011) by regularly monitoring and scrutinising performance data, school improvement plans and targets (Ofsted 2011; Balarin 2008).

Governors having the right skills and experience (Ofsted 2009), and being committed to the role (PWC 2007). They need to use these skills to challenge the school to bring about school improvement, and hold leaders to account for pupil outcomes (Ofsted 2011).

An effective chair of governors, who can effectively lead and manage (McCrone 2011, James et al, 2010).

Productive relationships between the governing body and senior leadership team (Ofsted 2011, McCrone 2011)—relationships must be based on trust, openness and transparency (Ofsted, 2011), a supportive head teacher (Balarin et al, 2008), and good communication between the head teacher and the governing body (Balarin et al, 2008, Ofsted 2011).

An effective clerk who advises on legal aspects, ensures meetings are well organised and ensures that the governors receive all the information they need (McCrone et al, 2011; Ofsted 2011).

Self–evaluation of the governing board and their ability to self-scrutinise and ask themselves if they are doing the right thing (James et al, 2010; McCrone et al, 2011).

References

Balarin, M, Brammer, S, James, C R and McCormack, M (2008). The School Governance Study. London: Business in the Community.

James, C, Brammer, S, Conolly, M, Fertig, M, James, and Jones, J (2010). “School governing in England: Primary schools, secondary schools, performance and socio-economic status.” Annual Conference of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society, Wokefield Park, Reading, July 2010.

Ofsted (2011). School Governance: Learning from the best

McCrone, T, Southcott, C, George, N (2011). Governance models in schools Slough NFER

PricewaterhouseCoopers (2007a). Independent Study into School Leadership. DCSF Research Report RR818A. DCSF-RW005

January 2013