What governors need....

There has been lots of talk over the last couple of days about competent governance and how to achieve it.

Governors need to own the fact that, to all intents and purposes, they are the responsible body for their school.  If the school succeeds, they are doing a good job; it it doesn't, they aren't.  The point is, they have to take responsibility for this outcome.

The head is accountable to the governing body.  This relationship is critical.  It is not up to the head to tell the governing body how to organise itself.  The board agrees the development/improvement plan with the head and then monitors how the head and his/her staff are moving towards achieving the objectives within it.  Governors ask for evidence of achieving objectives; what the obstacles are; how to remove those obstacles.  They act with urgence and determination. 

If we need to pay some or all governors to do that job effectively, so be it.  We'll have to find the cash somehow.  If however, they just need to know how to be more confident in how to govern, then let's ensure they have all the tools they need. 

I have been privileged to be involved, with Lord Bichard, in developing a service for school governors (www.tengovernor.com) that answers their questions and publishes the answers on a website in a way that can help all governors.  The service allows governors to get information directly, without having to rely on the head to give it to them.  This is a critical point.  The board needs to be well informed and confident, while keeping a bit of distance from the head.  This allows governors to have the necessary perspective. 

Before we can achieve competent governance, governors must understand their role.  Once they realise quite how critical this is, real progress will be made in raising standards.