In search of great school governance

We are truly living in strange times and, I don't know about you, but my online presence and my tech skills have increased rapidly in the last couple of weeks. We are all getting used to virtual meetings, virtual parties with friends and family, online shopping and news.  Websites or social media pages are suddenly the front door to shops, schools and organisations of all kinds so what do the ones set up for our schools look like?  Last month saw the launch of the National Governance Association's (NGA) campaign 'Visible Governance'. The aim is to  encourage 'governors and trustees to be bold and be positive about sharing what they do and why they do it, highlight their contribution to the education system and shine a light on the difference that good governance makes to the success of their school/trust.' (1) Never more important than now in these difficult times. Looking around the internet at school websites I am struck by how little information many scho...

Looking up from the boardroom table Now I am a naturally curious person - Ok maybe nosey! So I am always interested in the way other people do things -  they might have better ideas or resources that I can use or they might have contacts who would be helpful to me mightn't they? Curiosity is really important for us as governors because the world moves on a a very fast pace and the world of education is no exception.  We should be curious about our schools, about how do they do things and, importantly, why and to what impact? We should also be curious about governance and the way others carry out this important role in the education sector but also beyond. There are boards of governors out there where very few governors have attended training courses and networking events; where no one has been to a conference, no one has read a book or article on governance or leadership, no one has a social media account to engage in the array of interesting discussions that are available...

At a recent NGA Conference a presentation by Caroline Copeman,  Senior Visiting Fellow at Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness, set me thinking about the topic for this my latest blog post.  One of Caroline's opening slides stated - ' Quality of conversation at board, and the ability to think well, needs quality information and thoughtful question prompts'.  Now  I have been involved in a number of board meetings recently at different schools that required some really im portant decisions to be made in the interests of our children. Reflecting on this, I could see how the quality of the discussion, and ultimately the quality of the decision, was indeed directly linked to the quality of the information provided for those meetings.  So, if quality information is key to board effectiveness, why is it that boards spend so little time discussing, evaluating and agreeing what information best enables them to do their job well?  Or am I wrong about this...

For many the autumn term means the annual round of performance management with meetings, targets and sometimes a rather jaded outlook on the whole process.  But what if it could be different? - what if it could engage, inspire and lead to real improvement in the performance of the individual and the school as a whole? In a previous post I talked about the inspiration of Tom Rees' book Wholesome Leadership well this initiative is all about tending our soil and giving our staff the opportunity to grow and flourish.(1)  These questions arose as we began our work as a pathfinder school for The Ethical Leadership Project.  Our school values are 'the fruits of the spirit' (2) and suggest growth and nurturing and the Ethical Leadership values are well aligned with this.  In the workplace I have found myself on both sides of the appraisal process many, many times to both good and bad effect.  I have long reflected on the process, it's always been a bit of a 'thing' w...

This week we took part in a pilot inspection for the September 2019 Ofsted Framework.   I asked the inspector if I might share any implications for governance, as I saw them, and he was happy for me to do this. So……. here goes! First, this was a challenging day for the school but a day full of professional conversations where we had the opportunity to really showcase what we do. Safeguarding always comes first and was rigorous.   The inspector tested what we told him – for example, he checked after 9am to see that a gate in our perimeter fencing had indeed been locked after we told him that this was a routine.   He also asked to see evidence that governors checked the single central record – even after Amanda Spielman’s speech saying this was unnecessary.   - Carry on governors! Secondly – the real focus of the day From my discussions and observations this was about the school’s culture, leadership, curriculum and a strong emphasis on reading right f...

“ The nation trusts us to form young people into the best that they can be. The public expects us to know what kind of example we should set them, but do we? How do we know what’s right or wrong?” Carolyn Roberts, Commission Chair, April 2017 (1) Y esterday on Twitter a governor colleague was praised for her actions using the phrase 'ethically means DOING the right thing not just SAYING the right thing'.  I felt myself wanting to shout out loud 'YES!'  In all of our work as governors, creating policy, leading the strategy, establishing the culture and ethos in our schools, it is not just about the words on the documents but about how we put them to use; how we live them.  For our school, being a Pathfinder for the Ethical Leadership Project is right up our street - it will enable us to examine our own rhetoric and see if we measure up to the DOING!(2)  L ast week we held the first meeting of our working party and a wise governor in our team (ex Headteache...

Listening to the latest podcast from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has given me the focus for this third and final blog.(1) (for the time being!) One of the most detrimental situations I see when I meet with boards of governors is where the relationship between the board and the headteacher has broken down.  This can range from a situation where neither side fully understands their role, and cross or duplication of work happens, to the downright destructive where neither side will talk to the other!  Some Headteachers see the governors as meddling; and some governors I meet do spend too much time trying to get into the detail of the operational.  Some boards who, quite correctly, want to get clear strategic work done for the school come up against a controlling headteacher who sees that as usurping their role. So what can be done to get everyone pulling in the same direction whilst respecting their different roles - surely we are on the sa...