Who is a parent governor?

[Ahmawa]

The school is asking about who would like to be a parent Governor -can anyone who is one tell me how they became one?

What is involved? How useful they have found it.

I'm a parent and a governor, though a directly appointed governor rather than an elected one. There's no difference in terms of role though. Elected parent governors are representative parents, not parent representatives, and they're expected to contribute just as much as other governors.

Your school should provide information about what is involved if it wants to get the right person for the role. It's an important role, and shouldn't be filled by people who aren't committed to it, or who are doing it for the wrong reasons.

Instead of thinking about how the role could be useful to you, think about how you could be useful to the school. You will be joining a team of people who act as a ctitical friend to the leadership team, providing support, scrutiny and challenge. You will need to commit time to preparing for meetings, and visiting the school.

There's lots of useful information on the National Governors Asdociation website.

I was parent governor for a year. There was a lack of 'critical friend' going on.
Unprofessional relationship between chair of governors and head teacher meant any suggestions were turned down (without discussion), most of the governors were mute, chair of governors was a puppet of the head teacher.. couldn't take any more bullsh1t..

I would second what grapefruit said. Your question about 'how useful' people have found it to be a parent governor would concern me a little. Quite a lot of people become parent governors because a) a group of their friends have got gripes about the school and they want to have a 'voice' on the governing body, or b) because they have a particular area of concern (for example their child at the school has additional needs) and they want to get the inside track on what goes on in the school. These are both very bad reasons for standing as a parent governor. First, a parent governor is absolutely not a parent rep, and has no more role than any other governor in reporting parental concerns to the governing body. Second, parent governors should leave their own parental concerns at the door when they join the governing body - they are there to act collectively with the rest of the governing body in reaching decisions, and should not get involved in the day to day operation of the school. And third, remember that governing body meetings are highly confidential, and information must not be shared with other parents outside of the official channels. It can be very difficult to find out things (sometimes newsworthy, controversial or even shocking things) at governor meetings which you are then unable to share with your friends, however much they might ask you what's going on.

Instead, as grapefruit said, potential candidates should be thinking - what skills have I got that I could offer the governing body, and how much time have I got available to commit? Being a governor is bloody hard work and a huge amount of responsibility (usually full governing body meetings a few times a year, plus serving on a sub-committee and getting involved in various things such as monitoring lessons or activities in schools, attending training, writing reports on designated areas of focus, etc).

If I've misread your motives for considering standing, then I apologise. I'm happy to say more if you've got other queries.

DH was a parent governor at DDs primary school for 2 years. He wanted to do it as a way to be involved and help improve the school. He was the only applicant so didn't have to go through an interview process which is what would normally happen. He's had to go on several training sessions at the local county council. He sat on the finance and also the data sub teams at the school. He's had to analyse reports, data and feedback. Hes sat in and analysed lessons throughout the school. He's also been involved in the shortlisting and interviewing of the new headteacher. He's had to attend lots of governors meetings both full governors meetings and ones just for the sub teams he was involved with.

He has recently handed in his notice for it as his job has changed and a lot of the meetings were starting to be although at the end of the school day wereduring normal office hours and he'd often rejig work to find out they'd been cancelled and he'd hadn't been told. There were also local businesspeople who were governors who he found really disruptive to meetings and purely having their own agenda and he was finding it extremely frustrating especially when he was giving up so much time to make a good job of it

I was a parent governor, now a co-opted governor.

As others have said it is hard work, time consuming and a huge responsibility. When I stood for election as a parent governor, I asked the school what was involved, I was simply told 'about 12 meetings a year'. When the next parent election was to be held, I asked if I could have some input on the 'job' description, which I think probably put some parents off, but I thought it was important to give a true picture of what is involved (for no pay).

Apart from attending full governors' meetings and sub-committee meetings I have been involved in a number of working parties, had to visit the school on numerous occasions and write and present reports on these visits, be involved in HT appraisals, recruitment process (including HT which involved 2 full days) and permanent exclusion process. It is not something to be entered into lightly. And as others have said, you must not have a personal agenda or axe to grind.

However, I have found it very rewarding and it is nice to be involved with the school, even after DC have left.

I think I may have been misunderstood. When I meant useful - I meant how useful their input was in making changes.

What sort of changes are you thinking? That gives an impression that you have an agenda, which is not a good thing to have. You need to be objective

As for DH very. As posted he was involved in shortlisting candidates for the new headteacher post. So reading allll the applications, scoring them and giving opinion on personal statement. And again with the actual interview days. The one he thought was best wasn't chosen, but his opinion/thoughts were taken on board and listened too. Likewise he has influenced decisions on where money was supposed to be spent on something he thought it was a poor idea and they've actually backtracked.

In a nutshell you aren't there 'just to make up numbers' you are very much listened to and can create change, assist/influence decision making processes if it's objective and not personal

I’ve been a governor for a couple of schools.
At one I was on the team that recruited the new head teacher, so that was fairly influential!

I have been involved with many decisions that have hugely impacted our school, it is unrecognisable from the school when DS first started there, we are not even in the same buildings anymore! My DH is amazed about how much responsibility and work is involved in a voluntary role, compared to him as a partner in a professional firm.

However, it is not good to go in with the idea that you are going to make all these changes. If, for example, you are not impressed with the HT, you can't go in thinking you are going to get rid of them just like that. You have to challenge them through the correct channels.

I've been a primary school governor for some years now, and my experience is similar to that outlined by ineedaholidaynow. I would say that yes, I have been instrumental in seeing through some changes where I've been the main driving force, but it's as part of a team making strategic plans for short and long-term management - of budgets, buildings, policies, recruitment and so on. What we don't do is direct the operational running of the school. For example, we might decide to seek and raise funding for a new classroom, but we couldn't direct staff to sit the naughty boys at the back.
What kind of changes are you hoping to make?

I second what Brecon says about operational changes - they're the HT's job. And IME it's the parent governors who find it hardest to resist trying to influence things at an operational level, because it's the operational things that parents tend to see most and care about most.

I do not believe parent governors are interviewed by anyone if more than one person applies. Who would interview? No one has this role because all the parents can vote if there is more than one candidate. There is no filter. Candidates usually write a short statement about themselves and their skills which is circulated to the parents who then vote in a ballot organised by the school.

A single parent with an agenda won’t push it through. Mostly Governors scrutinise data and performance and then draw up plans for future improvement with the Head. They must know the school inside out and be confident enough to challenge when they are aware of a need to improve. However the day to day running of a school is the job of the Head, not Governors. Parent governors have no mandate from parents and are not responsible to the parents. They are simply governors who happen to be parents.

I don't have an agenda or make any changes. I simply have never been involved before or been asked before and not sure what it all entails and whether I have the skills that would be helpful.

As a Free School as part of an Academy group - not sure what structure there would be and whether it would be different to say a LA School?

Are there any other governors you could talk to?

What skills do you have? There are a wide variety of skills on our Governing Board.

Ahmawa, have you looked for a governance page on the school website? That's a good starting point.

I'm a local governor of a free school. The academy trust has its scheme of delegation, the standing orders for the local governing body, and various other documents online. Some trusts will give you more autonomy than others, so its definitely worth looking into and talking to existing governors.