governance | Schools Week

Schools without professional clerk are breaking government rules

Schools are breaking government rules by failing to employ a professional clerk to advise governors on their legal duties in meetings. The governance handbook clearly states that a board must use a “professional clerk” to take minutes, organise the board and help navigate the law. But Julia Millard, an advocate for National Leaders of Governance, […]

3 ways in which government needs to help school governors

School governance is a vital but oft-forgotten aspect of the school system. Here Mike Parker lays out what he reckons needs to change “Governors are the unsung heroes of schools”, were the opening words of Belita Scott, an inspector, at the SCHOOLS NorthEast event in south Tyneside last September. We are increasingly concerned about the […]

Is there a school governor recruitment crisis?

There might be a huge surplus of volunteers in London, but rural communities never have enough potential governors, explains Judith Hicks Over a quarter of a million volunteers across England give up their free time to provide strategic leadership at state-funded schools – but this figure is falling, heaping pressure onto serving school governors and […]

What knowledge do school governors need?

Much has been written about the skills needed on an effective governing board or trust board, but very little attention has focused on the knowledge required when you undertake such an important role. Let’s focus on three areas: risk, finances and regulation. These three are matters for all governing boards, but become particularly important in […]

5 cost-free ways to improve school governance

A few things Damian Hinds could do to improve education governance that would cost him nothing, as suggested by Martin Matthews Every time we get a new secretary of state for education we begin another round of competition: the various educational interests vying for attention, each trying to shove their pet issue higher up the […]

Challenge: How governors can challenge school leaders effectively, by David Marriott

How can governors challenge school leaders effectively? That’s a mighty difficult question to answer in such a short book. Challenge is one of those ethereal aspects of governance: you know it when you see it. As the author says: “Going beyond paying lip service to ’challenge’ is this book’s key focus.” As a national leader […]

School governance: 12 things you should know about 2017

There has been plenty to consider for school governors in 2017. Naureen Khalid walks us through the year’s highlights (and the lowlights!) Another year has flown by and it’s time to review 2017. As Christmas is almost upon us, I’ve looked back at twelve things which stood out for me. So, in no particular order: […]

Network exclusively for black governors launched

A new network will help black African and Caribbean governors in an attempt to increase the diversity of school governing boards. The National Black Governors Network will pair black professionals interested in becoming governors with schools who are looking to diversify their governing boards via the network’s website. The NBGN was set up by Sharon […]

Governors and trustees need to listen more. It’s that simple.

Emma Knights explores the latest thinking in school governance Like a number of binary debates in English education, the discussion on skills and stakeholders that school governance has been bogged down in for the past five years is sterile, limited and sometimes even immature. Can we please just agree that we all want skilled, competent […]