“Governors really don’t have any power”, asserted my colleague, who has recently stepped down from being a school governor. “It all rests with the headteacher and senior leadership team.”
The truth is, that in any position which demands impact and influence, it is up to the postholder to take hold of power. Working as a coach to school leaders, I have heard a variety of stories of headteacher/governor relationships: some heads are appreciative of the checks and balances that a good set of governors can provide; others have been keen to keep governors at arm’s length so that they don’t get in the way; a few have been exceptionally badly treated by their governors, resulting in their resignation as an option preferable to extending their stress sand seeking the support of their union.
For every board which is ready to take on the leadership role which is now required, there are probably three which would echo the words of one governor who – on being told governors should be driving the school agenda – responded “you’re telling me we need to tell the head what to do? You’re having a laugh.”
The potential impact of governance
Forty per cent of inspections which resulted in a ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ judgements during the period September 2016-March 2017 called for an external review of governance. The reluctance to step into the space which is now demanded of school governors is just one of the reasons why governance is failing. School governors are among the largest body of volunteers in the country. They are accountable for our children’s education. The central register of governors which the DfE is constructing may eventually yield valuable information concerning whether there are even enough volunteers, let alone enough volunteers with the right skills, to meet the demands of twenty-two thousand schools, the majority of which still under local authority control. I was a governor for eight years and I don’t think we ever operated without at least one vacancy. Demands on schools continue to increase: the financial crisis identified by the National Audit Office looms; school places are under pressure; initial teacher training targets are missed; the disadvantage gap resists most attempts to close it – to name but a few. Effective governance which challenges and supports operational leaders to focus on what makes the biggest difference has never been more important.
Professionalising governance
One of the intentions of the first academies programme was to bring the best of business innovation and skills to the education sector (and, incidentally, money, too) through introducing business boardroom practice into school governance. Business sponsors have now largely been replaced by sponsoring schools.
The mixed academy/local authority economy together with a sharper focus on governance from Ofsted has exposed weaknesses in governance which was previously tolerated by operational leaders. Governors were often seen as a necessary, if somewhat irritating, encumbrance, rather than as a valuable means of providing continuity and stability, with the potential to secure the future of our society through setting the educational ethos of our schools. After years of minimal investment in the development of governance, in favour of every other tier of school leadership, the system is waking up to the fact that governance matters.