Thinking of becoming a school governor

[JamTartLover]

Hi all,

I am new to Mumsnet and I am hoping I am using the right thread for this topic!

This is the backstory. I don't feel as though I am reaching my full potential at work (doing a more junior job than I expected to be doing due to staff shortages, e.g. working on day to day admin rather than overseeing processes) and there isn't much I can do about that other than resign and find a new job but the jobs I have seen that are more senior require experience that I don't think I will get in my current role.

Anyway, I was thinking of becoming a school governor to build on my knowledge, skills and experience so I can apply for more senior roles.

Has anyone got any experience of being a school governor? Could you please advise on anything useful that can be added to my application to make me stand out?

If you want to help at the school @Akire you could help with reading etc, don’t have to be a parent. Might not be taking volunteers at the moment due to COVID but schools usually welcome visitors who can help in some way.

Chipping in again as a clerk to governors (or governance professional as we're being encouraged to call ourselves)... maybe this is useful for some existing governors. The governing board are part of the leadership and management team of the school. Governance is considered in Ofsted judgements, although things changed a bit with covid. If a board has a retention problem caused by unrealistic meeting times it is within their power to change that. The board should not be steered by the head and the school, the governors led by the chair call the shots.

There is no need for multiple staff to attend meetings. Unless there is some sort of really urgent issue all agenda items should be accompanied by a paper that would include any decisions to be made. Also relevant data. All of the documents with the agenda should be with governors a clear 7 days before the meeting - this is set out in governance regulations. It gives governors time to read, consider and prepare questions.

This means that there is no need for all the members of staff to attend the meeting to reply to questions - that's the head's job. It's nice to have presentations from members of staff, often at the start of the meeting, so that they can tell governors about their role. But multiple staff shouldn't be routinely attending meetings. If they do have an item the clerk can be considerate by putting it high on the agenda so they can leave when finished. That also means that they don't get to listen in on the rest of the meeting.
If anyone feels motivated to be a governor I'd encourage them to go for it, while being realistic about the commitment. Most schools are crying out for governors.

Hi Chair of Govs here. We are always looking for committed volunteers with a willingness to learn. Even better if you already have a skill we.need - e.g. the ability to read and analyse school budgets.
However as a way to improve your CV it is perfect. We buy into the LA governor training and you can attend as many of those governor courses as you want - school finance, safeguarding, safer recruiting, H&S, SFVS, HT Wellbeing, Exclusions, Restructuring, SEN, PP Spending etc etc Some training is mandated such as Safeguarding. Most is done in the evening.

Our school has been through a lot recently and you could have learnt all about restructuring, redundancy, recruiting HT, Change management, managing budgets, Ofsted, etc etc there are so many possibilities. But...in order to stay in my opinion, you do need to do it because you believe all children have the right to an excellent education regardless of where they live, the school they attend or their circumstances- because in many ways it is a thankless task for lots of effort. So you need to take intrinsic pleasure from seeing the impact you have.

If you still want to go ahead get in touch with your Local Authority Governor Services and they will match you with a school.

I have been a school governor for several years and currently am VC of governors at a small rural primary.

There is initial training available which is very helpful, if only to get a grip on the multitude of acronyms and jargon words!

The important thing to remember is that you do not have to know everything or be a jack of all trades. For instance I would not be very good at dealing with financial spread sheets - not my area of expertise. We have a chair of finance committee who is an accountant and he and the rest of the committee deal with that aspect.

Because of my professional history, I am staff welfare governor and the link governor for SEND. I am also on the staffing committee, and am involved with staff interviews etc.

We have a varied group of people and we play to our strengths, which makes sense.

I would agree that it is quite a commitment - usually more than new governors realise when they first take it on. You need to undertake training in safeguarding and various other things as a condition of being a governor. And when OfSted comes around you have to be on the ball, as governance is also inspected!

But I find it satisfying and very interesting. The only problem I have is that education is not the centre of my life so every time there is a meeting I have to remind myself what has gone before in order to be of any use. I am retired and find it a very useful way to make a contribution to my village.

I have been a school governor, initially a parent governor then a co-opted governor of a different school. My feeling is that unless you can be in the school every week you are very much informed by what the Head cares to tell you and it’s hard to get a real handle on how the school works unless you are there frequently during school hours; and I was a working teacher!

I was put off by several law suits where school governors were deemed to be financially and legally liable for things that had gone wrong. I do know several people who have been governors for years and find it very worthwhile.

@angstridden2

I have been a school governor, initially a parent governor then a co-opted governor of a different school. My feeling is that unless you can be in the school every week you are very much informed by what the Head cares to tell you and it’s hard to get a real handle on how the school works unless you are there frequently during school hours; and I was a working teacher!

I was put off by several law suits where school governors were deemed to be financially and legally liable for things that had gone wrong. I do know several people who have been governors for years and find it very worthwhile.

Honestly, governors should not be in school every week. That would be an unreasonable burden on staff. Governors should carry out strategic monitoring activities using methods that they get training for to check that what they are being told is correct.

As for liability:
“The School Standards and Framework Act gives governors legal protection, both individually and collectively, from any personal liability for their decisions and actions undertaken in good faith.

“It also exempts governors from liability for negligent action directly attributable to the spending of the school’s delegated budget, for example if a faulty piece of equipment were purchased resulting in personal injury.”

I slogged it out as a school governor as the school was desperate for 18 months. I am not sure you will gain much careerwise - if you can't already read a balance sheet or minute a meeting I doubt anyone will teach you to do these things.

My experience was - imagine the PTA, but worse. Some very self-important and rude people, demands on your time with little warning and often with little benefit, hostility if you suggest doing anything different or raise any concerns.

@Stompythedinosaur

I slogged it out as a school governor as the school was desperate for 18 months. I am not sure you will gain much careerwise - if you can't already read a balance sheet or minute a meeting I doubt anyone will teach you to do these things.

My experience was - imagine the PTA, but worse. Some very self-important and rude people, demands on your time with little warning and often with little benefit, hostility if you suggest doing anything different or raise any concerns.

The clerk minutes the meeting. Governors can if there is no clerk but it's not part of their role and against DfE and NGA guidance. No governor is ever going to be recruited for their minuting skills! Balance sheets - governors get a strategic overview report of the position of the budget. It's designed to be read and understood. Knowing how to read a balance sheet is not required. Understanding school finance as a governor is much easier than people think and training is available. Governors should aware of how the budget planning process works - I recommend that one or two attend the budget setting meeting. They also are aware of financial compliance checks that are done, such as the Schools Financial Value Standard, but they don't do it themselves.

Governors need to be a bit proactive sometimes. Most boards subscribe to some sort of training service. However, training is also available for free... governorsforschools.org.uk/elearning/

The clerk minutes the meeting.

Maybe they should, but this wasn't my experience as a governor.

@Stompythedinosaur

The clerk minutes the meeting.

Maybe they should, but this wasn't my experience as a governor.

Sounds like a very poorly run school from what you've said... which is ultimately the responsibility of the governing board, but I appreciate it can be hard to instigate change if you're a lone voice.

DH used to be a school governor. In a good week he put in 10 hrs, in a bad week, more like 20. He was unemployed for most of that time and it was a good thing as he just hadn't the hours to work on top of his extensive role. (He took it very seriously.)

@hivemindneeded

DH used to be a school governor. In a good week he put in 10 hrs, in a bad week, more like 20. He was unemployed for most of that time and it was a good thing as he just hadn't the hours to work on top of his extensive role. (He took it very seriously.)

That's quite a lot, I'd say. Was he the chair or something?

I put in a lot of hours some weeks and nothing in others. It doesn't balance out as high as 10-20 hours per week though!

Personally, I do think being a school governor is great for your CV, particularly if you want a career in education and/or working with children.

I echo that it is similar experience to a non-exec role.
I was recruited to fill a missing skill set.
I've learnt an awful lot and have a much better understanding of education as a result.
I think if it's a good governing body then you will have the opportunity to gain a lot of transferable skills.

I was a Governor at the local secondary academy and really enjoyed it.

Meeting times were a constant battle, with the school staff on the governing body wanting meetings at 4, before they went home, and none school governors saying they didn't get home until 6, so couldn't possibly attend until 7!

It's interesting - you learn a lot about how the school is funded and run.

My governorship coincided with me having an unexpected redundancy and the school being inspected by ofsted. Governance was one of my things in work so I was able to help the school prepare for the inspection in my free time by doing mini department audits.
It's the same principle, whether you're auditing a school or a factory.
I was able to put the successful (good>outstanding) audit on my CV, and I'm sure it helped when I was applying for jobs.

Interesting reading some of these posts from the point of view of a clerk. As always, some governors are getting far too operationally involved in their schools. It's not right, but it's common. The thing is that it does give prospective governors a slightly inaccurate view of what the role involves and the commitment.
@Stompythedinosaur sadly it sounds as if you were unlucky enough to land in a rubbish governing board.

"My governorship coincided with me having an unexpected redundancy and the school being inspected by ofsted. Governance was one of my things in work so I was able to help the school prepare for the inspection in my free time by doing mini department audits.
It's the same principle, whether you're auditing a school or a factory.
I was able to put the successful (good>outstanding) audit on my CV, and I'm sure it helped when I was applying for jobs."
I'm a bit fascinated by this. Schools get half a day's notice for Ofsted inspections. They need to be in a state of readiness for quite some time ideally. Peer reviews and benchmarking, input from external advisors, really good data and case studies - all good preparation for Ofsted, but should be part of daily life. I can't really imagine what departmental audits could be carried out by a non-educationalist. I'd also question whether a governor should do that as it would mean they were way into the operational side of things. But I'm glad it helped on the CV.

@Stompythedinosaur

The clerk minutes the meeting.

Maybe they should, but this wasn't my experience as a governor.

(Another former governors' clerk here) One of the things that is considered a bit of a red flag is a governing board that doesn't make use of a professional clerk. It usually means the board is too cosy with the school: governors are supposed to be 'critical friends' and direct the Head or Senior Management if they are getting stuff wrong, and governors' meetings which are all about patting each other on the back and endless tea and cakes are usually indications of a school that's not doing too well. or perhaps the chair has been running things for too long and isn't up to date with current developments. It can be interesting and rewarding, or an absolute nightmare. It does take a lot more time than you think it will take an there is a lot of reading. Unfortunately the current emphasis is on governors having a lot of business skills - which, in poorer areas particularly, means that the governors tend to be a bit remote from the school community and in a lot of cases they are the classic parachuted-in do-gooders, especially if they are childfree or have adult children rather than school-age ones...

Governing boards who don't use a Clerk to advise and minute meetings where decisions are made are letting their school down.
How can governors demand the best from staff if they are not prepared to adhere to best practice themselves.
Governors need to think 5-10 days worth of work spread over the year. They need to put in at least as much time (if not double) reading and assessing before the meeting as they do attending.
Any Governor meeting where they listen to reports being read out is wasting time. They need to arrive ready to discuss and challenge.

Russel
The school suspected an inspection was imminent due to the length of time since the previous one so were assessing their readiness for it.

I can't really imagine what departmental audits could be carried out by a non-educationalist.
That's what the school said. They were wrong too. Audits are audits. You don't have to be an expert on the subject matter.

How did you do an audit?

There is a range of internal and external audits schools are subject to or may decide to undergo to assess something. These are done by various skilled people and not the Governors.

The Governors would undertake a regular skills audit that the vice is likely to oversee or an outside provider.

The Governors might request an audit is considered if appropriate to the situation. Safeguarding and financial audits and checks are the ones that spring to mind first. Just another tool to check all is well in a certain area or that action is needed.

Carrying out audits of any kind is an operational requirement under the remit of the head. Governors are supposed to remain strategic and avoid involving themselves in the running of the school at an operational level. Governors needed to know that audits, of whatever type, were done. They needed to know the conclusions, what actions were needed and then make sure they happened. I would be concerned if a governor in one of my schools was in carrying out audits. For example, if a governor is an accountant, they should still not be operating at that level.

I'm not criticising you Justkeep. I'm commenting because a) what you did could mislead potential governors about what the role might entail and b) it's a bit questionable whether they should have asked/allowed you to do this.

I'm an NGA accredited governance professional, I clerk a lot of schools and deliver training to clerks and governors. I would have cautioned against this in a school I was working with. In pretty much every school the governors struggle to manage strategic monitoring and carry it out properly. I'd have suggested that they could have made better use of your time by using it to strengthen the work the board is supposed to do.

Governors are able to offer a lot of advice to schools on an informal basis. We had governors who worked in HR, Finance, Construction, Marketing etc. My speciality was Governance.