David Marriott

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The roles of a governor

• David Marriott
• David Marriott Limited

davidmarriottltd_at_gmail.com www.thegovernor.org.uk
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After this session

• Find this presentation and associated documents
  and links at www.thegovernor.org.uk
• Search under Events

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The purpose of the governing body

• To make sure the school provides the best
  possible education for all its pupils

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A corporate body

• Individual governors have no power or right to
  act on behalf of the GB, except where the whole
  governing body has delegated a specific function
  to that individual
• Governors should act at all times with honesty
  and integrity and be ready to explain their
  actions and decisions to staff, pupils, parents
  and anyone with a legitimate interest in the
  school
• Decisions demand collective responsibility the
  majority view must be supported publicly
  otherwise, resign

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7 principles of public life

• Selflessness holders of public office should
  take decisions solely in terms of the public
  interest. They should not do so in order to gain
  financial or other material benefits for
  themselves, their family or their friends.
• Integrity holders of public office should not
  place themselves under any financial or other
  obligation to outside individuals or
  organisations that might influence them in the
  performance of their official duties.
• Objectivity in carrying out public business,
  including making public appointments, awarding
  contracts, or recommending individuals for
  rewards and benefits, holders of public office
  should make choices on merit.
• Accountability holders of public office are
  accountable for their decisions and actions to
  the public and must submit themselves to whatever
  scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

• Openness holders of public office should be as
  open as possible about all the decisions and
  actions that they take. They should give reasons
  for their decisions and restrict information only
  when the wider public interest clearly demands
  this.
• Honesty holders of public office have a duty to
  declare any private interests relating to their
  public duties and to take steps to resolve any
  conflicts arising in a way that protects the
  public interest.
• Leadership holders of public office should
  promote and support these principles by
  leadership and example.

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How do heads and governors share the load?

• Governors
• ensure school runs effectively, providing best
  possible education
• challenge and support school to do better
• take strategic view, set up policies, plans and
  targets
• monitor and evaluate results
• delegate enough power to head to run school
  effectively
• accountable to parents and LA for how school is
  run
• appoint head and deputy

• Head
• organises, manages and controls the school
  day-to-day, inc all staff
• expects GB to challenge and support school to do
  better
• discusses main aspects of school life with GB
• accountable to GB for how school is led and
  managed and its performance

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The chairs role

• The strategic role
• Managing relationships with the head, staff,
  governors, parents, community

• Managing the work and effectiveness of the GB,
  inc succession planning
• Ensuring and providing accountability

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The governors role

• One morning in the school playground a small
  group of parents approaches you and asks you to
  sort out a problem for them
• Their childrens teacher has gone on maternity
  leave, replaced by a newly qualified teacher
• They feel that the new teacher isnt doing as
  good a job as her predecessor

• They want you to do something about it
• What do you do next?

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Managing the workload

• Scheme of Delegation
• skills audit and deployment
• committees and task groups
• specialist governors
• associate members
• Standing Orders
• Code of Conduct
• Online participation guidance for school
  governors
• Guide to the Law

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3 key roles

• Provide a strategic view
• Act as a critical friend
• Provide accountability

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Strategic view

• Decide what you want the school to be like in the
  future vision
• Set suitable aims and objectives
• Agree priorities, policies and targets
• Strategic and development plans
• Evaluate progress towards the vision

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Food for thought

• Top layer looking into the future long term
• Middle layer strategic plan medium term
• Bottom layer the school improvement plan short
  term

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Education trends

• less money
• decentralisation of education, curriculum and
  testing revision of the National Curriculum
• increasingly diverse range of schools with
  significant autonomy - Academies and Free
  Schools two tier system?
• new forms of school leadership and organisation
  (including federations, chains of schools,
  all-through schools)
• parental choice and influence
• accountability to a range of bodies and groups
• performance management and professional
  development
• recruitment and retention issues, alternative
  staffing patterns, shortage of school leaders,
  alternative leadership models
• the impact of technology social networking
  mobile phones cloud computing
• lighter touch Ofsted inspections

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SWOT

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

• Internal
• External

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Critical friend

• Support
• Constructive advice
• Sounding board
• Second opinion
• Help where needed

• Challenge
• Ask the right questions, of the right person, for
  the right reasons, at the right time, in the
  right way
• Improve proposals
• Seek best solution for all

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Where does your governing body sit?
High support
Partners or critical friends
Supporters Club
We share everything good or bad.
Were here to support the head.
High challenge
Low challenge
Abdicators
Adversaries
We keep a very close eye on the staff!.
We leave it to the professionals.
Low support
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Monitor and evaluate What?

• school performance data
• policies, plans, improvement strategies
• resources and the budget
• the school (or learning) environment
• our own performance as a governing body

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Ofsted - what should schools evaluate?

• How well learners perform in terms of
• the overall standards they attain
• the standards attained by different groups such
  as girls and boys, those from different ethnic
  groups, and those with different special needs
• the progress made by different groups of learners
  over time
• outcomes from learners personal development and
  well-being

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Sources of information

• Raw data and league tables
• RAISEonline
• Ofsted report
• School Self-Evaluation information
• Headteachers report
• Pupil tracking data (anonymised)

• Subject leader report
• Link governor report
• School Improvement or Development Plan (and
  related progress reports)
• School Profile
• School Awards (eg Investors In People, Healthy
  Schools, Artsmark Basic Skills)
• Curriculum Committee minutes

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Questions about the data

• how do our results compare overall and by subject
  with those of previous years? (are they rising,
  holding steady, or falling? Have we met our
  targets?)
• how do they compare with national standards?
• how do they compare with similar schools?
• how well do different groups of pupils progress?
  (key stages, year groups, gender, ethnicity,
  special educational needs, high attainers?)
• how do different subjects compare with each
  other?

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Accountability

• Being accountable for
• School performance
• GBs actions
• Taking account of
• Performance data
• Feedback from stakeholders
• Self-evaluation

• Giving an account
• To parents and the community
• To Ofsted
• To Diocese

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Accountable for...

• School performance
• Taking account of
• SEF
• RAISEonline
• PM headteacher performance management
• Stakeholder feedback eg complaints and compliments

• GBs actions
• Taking account of
• Minutes
• GB self-evaluation eg Governor Mark
• Training record

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Giving an account

• To parents and the community
• School profile
• Reports?
• Regular communication
• Newsletter
• Website
• Presence at school

• To Ofsted
• Ensuring the governing body provides effective
  challenge and support so that weaknesses are
  tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities
  are met
• Fulfil statutory responsibilities
• Shape the direction
• Challenge and support leaders

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Inspecting governance

• Ensuring the governing body provides effective
  challenge and support so that weaknesses are
  tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities
  are met
• Fulfil statutory responsibilities
• Shape the direction
• Challenge and support leaders

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Inadequate

• The governing body has too little impact on the
  direction and work of the school.
• or
• The governing body does not challenge the school
  to address weaknesses and bring about
  improvement.
• or
• The governing bodys negligence in failing to
  meet its statutory requirements places the
  pupils achievement or well-being at risk.

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Satisfactory

• Governors discharge their statutory
  responsibilities and ensure that pupils and staff
  are safe.
• They are well organised, are visible in the
  school community, and support staff and pupils.
• Most governors know the strengths and weaknesses
  of the school and understand the challenges it
  faces and are directly involved in setting
  appropriate priorities for improvement.
• The governing body holds the school to account
  for tackling important weaknesses.
• Governors engage often with parents and pupils
  and respond quickly to their views and any
  significant concerns they may have.

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Good

• The governing body has the capacity to meet the
  schools needs and is influential in determining
  the strategic direction of the school
• Governors are rigorous in ensuring that pupils
  and staff are safe and discharge their statutory
  duties effectively
• They are fully and systematically involved in
  evaluating the school
• Their relationships with staff are constructive
  and they show determination in challenging and
  supporting the school in tackling weaknesses and
  so bringing about necessary improvements
• Governors have clear systems for seeking the
  views of parents and pupils and mechanisms for
  acting on these

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Outstanding

• Governors make a highly significant contribution
  to the work and direction of the school
• They have high levels of insight, are extremely
  well organised and thorough in their approach
• They are vigorous in ensuring that all pupils and
  staff are safe. In discharging their statutory
  responsibilities, they have highly robust systems
  for evaluating the effectiveness of their
  implementation, keeping the work of the school
  under review and acting upon their findings
• Governors are innovative, flexible and adapt to
  new ideas quickly, supporting the work of the
  staff in improving outcomes for all pupils
• They are confident in providing high levels of
  professional challenge to hold the school to
  account
• Governors engage very effectively with parents,
  pupils and the staff as a whole and are well
  informed about users views of the school
• They use these views to inform strategic
  priorities for development

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Task

• Working with a partner, decide what grade you
  would be given if inspected tomorrow
• If its hard to decide between two grades, what
  stops you giving yourself the higher grade?