Minutes:
The Scrutiny Panel received information from Paul Carney (Principal Officer, Governor Support)) about the role of school governors, the importance which Government places upon that role and the also the support which is provided for school governors. Various salient issues were discussed:-
- the contents of the Government’s Schools White Paper 2010, about the importance of teaching, detailing proposals in respect of school governing bodies;
- the White Paper’s proposals to clarify the accountability and responsibilities of school governing bodies;
- the school governing body must identify the strategic direction of a school, being a critical friend to and challenging head teachers and the management of the school;
- the local authority’s changing role to commission support services for school governors, rather than be a provider of services; the cost and availability of such services supplied by private sector providers (it was acknowledged that this aspect of school governing bodies is developing and changing very quickly);
- the appointment of trained clerks to school governing bodies, in order to advise and support governing bodies more effectively;
- the importance of continuing training for school governors (eg: development of on-line training materials for chairs of school governing bodies; possible use of cluster training and learning communities for the future delivery of training; opportunities to shadow and learn from existing school governors);
- the level of scrutiny of the role of school governors (nb: it is not yet compulsory for school governors to undertake training relevant to the role);
- introducing more flexible models of governing body structure; the possibility of school governing bodies being allowed to change their composition to suit their own needs (parents will continue to be represented on school governing bodies);
- encouraging people with a background in business and with professional skills to become members of school governing bodies;
- vacancy rates amongst school governing bodies and the type of vacancy (ie: whether staff, parent or local authority governor);
- removing some of the prescription currently placed upon school governing bodies and simplifying the amount of decisions which school governing bodies are required to take;
- whether there should be a salary applied to the role of school governor, reflecting their level of professionalism, or whether the current system of unpaid volunteers should remain;
- the methods used to recruit school governors and ensuring that information about the extent of the role and the training provided is readily available to people who may be interested in joining a school governing body;
- development of Academies and free schools, operating independently of the local authority; the Scrutiny Panel noted that, currently, the few Academies in the Rotherham Borough area intending to continue working in partnership with the local authority;
- the White Paper proposes no changes in respect of foundation governors of voluntary aided schools;
- the continuing review of the need for Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks and whether prospective school governors ought to undertake such checks (currently, school governing bodies make their own decisions as to whether their members ought to undertake CRB checks); the Scrutiny Panel acknowledged that it is good practice for school governors to undertake CRB checks.
Resolved:- (1) That the information about school governing bodies be noted.
(2) That a further report on the Schools White Paper “The Importance of Teaching”, including the development of support services for school governing bodies, be submitted to a future meeting of the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel.