Parents and teachers are too often portrayed as being in conflict, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Good governance is no silver bullet, but it is an important part of the solution.
Governors and trustees help set the tone, values and culture of a school or trust. They ensure that schools and trusts deliver academic results and meet the needs of their staff and the communities they serve. They support school leaders, and challenge them where needed.
These dedicated volunteers are the quiet backbone of our school system. They don’t seek the spotlight, but their work shapes the experiences of children, staff and families. Now more than ever, their role on key issues like resource planning, flexible working and community engagement is vital.
However, with all the pressures schools are under, the latter can sometimes be overlooked. Stakeholder engagement has been defined by the Department for Education as one of the three purposes of trust governance, but is curiously absent from their definition of the core functions of maintained school governance.
That said, the term ‘stakeholder engagement’ perhaps doesn’t fully reflect the breadth and depth of the relationships that matter. ‘Whole-school community collaboration’ better captures the inclusive, holistic approach needed to deliver truly excellent governance.
Families play a huge role in shaping children’s expectations, behaviours, values and outcomes; schools cannot succeed without them. But teachers are rarely trained to work with parents and families, and what engagement they do have often creates significant stress and additional workload.
This is why governance matters so much: boards are perfectly placed to bridge this gap. They can make sure their schools and trusts are listening to local voices and are rooted in their communities, reducing the risk of problems escalating.
We must give boards the permission and the mandate to do this, to listen and champion diverse local voices, to understand community context and needs, and to prioritise parent and carer engagement. Good governance makes us better accountable to those we serve.
Boards are perfectly placed to bridge this gap
Boards are key to staffing too. After all, governors and trustees often hold employer responsibilities, with a duty to support staff wellbeing and ensure schools are safe, inclusive and fair workplaces.
Likewise, they don’t just ensure leaders are held accountable but also that they are supported in navigating the enormous emotional and operational pressures of modern schooling.
Staff who feel valued are better able to deliver outstanding teaching and pastoral care. Boards can play a big part in making that happen.
We know that 99 per cent of academy trusts already choose to have some form of local governance in place. This reflects a widespread understanding of the importance of staying rooted to our communities. Local governance gives schools and trusts the insight they need to support better decision-making.
Of course, local governance does not just facilitate closer engagement with parents, pupils and staff. An empowered local tier is itself a meaningful form of engagement, giving stakeholders like parents and staff a clear role in decision-making.
Given its near-universal adoption, the department for education should do more to drive and spread best practice in this space. For example, the omission of local governance from its trust quality descriptors is an easy fix.
More difficult to put right is the ongoing challenge of recruiting the volunteers needed to be governors and trustees. This Volunteers Week presents an opportunity to do that, to signal to the public that being a governor is a challenging and deeply rewarding chance to make a real difference for children and the people who care for and educate them.
It’s also a unique opportunity to learn and to develop leadership skills. That’s why we think more teachers should be governors in their local schools too. The DfE should back governorship as a CPD opportunity.
It is a challenging time for schools and families, and relationships are increasingly frayed, but governance can be a ‘golden thread’ that weaves communities back together. The volunteer army that keeps our schools grounded merits renewed focus, and not just this week.
With a multi academy trust like ours, the school governance is controlled by the Trust and there is no accountability seemingly held for worsening results, increased persistent abscence, a hard line on parental complaints, very poor teacher retention and the list goes on. In fact in one of our local secondary schools the Chair of the local governance is a Trustee. It’s all about control and there is no accountability to the community and its stakeholders. The Government needs to be much tougher on academy Trusts and governance and be realistic about how destructive they can be to kids and their futures. Governance should be impartial but in reality it isn’t .