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GOVERNORS' NEWS
NASG members receive the in-house journal, "Governors' News", five times a year. As well as the latest news and reviews on the latest developments across the profession, every issue contains special features designed to help support you in your professional capacity

GOVERNORS' NEWS - September 2003

CONTENTS PAGE

A VIEW FROM THE (ACTING) CHAIR
RIGHT AND LEFT
IN A TOPSY-TURVY LAND

Sometimes, in the defence of governor interests, we give a cry of triumph, when all our well honed arguments have been listened to and accepted. How much the crueller then when the hopes are dashed while the cheers are still ringing around the rafters.

Such an experience came when looking at the draft regulations on staff appointments, which were issued towards the end of June. From back before the 2002 Education Act was first laid before Parliament, government had made it clear that it was considering removing the responsibility for staff appointments from governing bodies and giving it to heads. NAGM has opposed this change at every opportunity, not because we do not think it right that governing bodies should delegate staff appointments to headteachers if they wished, but because we thought that governing bodies should have the power to decide. Making an appointment, even below the leadership group, and especially in primary schools, is a key strategic decision, and it should be up to governing bodies whether they should be involved in any individual case or hand it over entirely to the headteacher.

It was with delight that we turned to the draft regulations and read (clause 4): 'the governing body may delegate ... the selection of staff', and that this delegation may be to the headteacher, or one or more governors and the headteacher. So no change there: the responsibility for appointments and dismissals rests with governors and they can delegate it if they wish. Hurray!

Ah, but... You have to read on to the Guidance, and there section 1 is ominously titled 'Delegation to the head teacher of staff appointments and dismissals'. This states unequivocally that 'in normal circumstance the governing body should delegate the responsibility for these matters [staff appointments outside the leadership group] to the head teacher'. Should you have any queries about the force of the word 'should', the Preamble to the Guidance makes it clear that 'should' indicates that this is the Secretary of State's 'recommended course' and that this 'is the course that is followed and any deviation from that should only be for very good reason'.

In case there should be any doubt, those 'very good reasons' are spelled out in some detail (clause 1.3.), as mainly being a head who has never done appointments and does not want to, a head who is under suspension, or a head who has been subject to representations from the LEA for their performance. In other words, a head who is failing to fulfil their duties or is too timid a flower to get in involved in the rough business of choosing who is going to work in their school. Not much room for manoeuvre there.

This is a fairly typical example of what 'deregulation' and 'flexibility' mean in practice. You are free to do whatever you like, providing that it is what the government wants you to do.

Anyone interested in psychology will be familiar with the principle that our brains have two distinct hemispheres. Our government's brain has two distinct hemispheres as well, and here the usual political connotations of right and left do not apply.

The right brain is intuitive, creative, forgiving and emotional. The left brain is ordering, systematic, controlling and moralising. In the well-adjusted person these two hemispheres work in balance, ensuring that, say, they have the creative ideas to produce a beautiful garden, and are organised enough to go to the garden centre to buy the hostas. Our government though, ironically, is under sway to the left, but still has right-brain tendencies. Thus it has the liberating and empowering idea of deregulating, letting people get on with things and make their own decisions. But then the left brain kicks in and worries about what they might do with that freedom, and starts imposing conditions and rules. That oft-acknowledged characteristic of being control freaks describes the sway of the left brain (and remember that the term 'control freak' was invented by those arch right-brainers, the hippies, to describe the managers of state they saw as their enemies).

The tragi-farce of funding has arisen from the failure of these two hemispheres to come into balance. The creative part of the government's brain came up with the great idea that you give schools more money and free them from many of the old conditions of how this should be spent, intuiting that it would be great if schools could make their own decisions. The left hemisphere was simultaneously hard at work determining all the things that this extra money should be spent on. Unfortunately the two halves never got together to look at the sums, with the sad result that many schools find that the right hemisphere's largesse had already been overspent in meeting its demands.

Underneath both examples is the Henry Ford philosophy of consumer choice. Sadly, we don't all want black.

Stephen Adamson

Jane Phillips, NAGM Chair, is in France for six months.
Stephen Adamson, Vice-chair, is Acting Chair for this period.

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ALL CHANGE - THE NEW SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY

JOHN FOWLER, TEN Associate, writes about the new regulations for governing bodies in England

The Education Act 2002 introduces three major changes to the law on school governance from September 2003. The Procedures Regulations provide the rules on how governing bodies operate, the Staffing Regulations provide the rules about how governing bodies appoint staff, and the Constitution Regulations, the subject of this article, provide for the membership of governing bodies. Although the law on school governance in the Education Act 2002 applies to Wales, Welsh Assembly Government has not indicated whether it intends to reconstitute governing bodies.

The last reconstitution of school governing bodies occurred in September 1999 following the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. That Act required the governing body size to be related to the size of the school which sometimes meant that schools had more governors than they needed, or occasionally there were too few governors to perform the tasks which the governing body had set itself. Under the 2003 reconstitution, governing bodies can choose their size. The 'stakeholder' model of school governance has been preserved with relatively minor changes to the definitions and representation of the stakeholders.

THE LAW

The rules can be found in the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003, No. 348). The Secretary of State has issued 'statutory guidance' which LEAs and school governing bodies have to 'have regard to' in coming to decisions about the composition of governing bodies. The guidance is found as follows:

• Community & Community Special - DfES/0323/2003
• Foundation & Foundation Special - DfES/0324/2003
• Maintained Nursery Schools - DfES/0329/2003
• Voluntary Aided - DfES/0325/2003
• Voluntary Controlled - DfES/0326/2003

INTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT

The procedure for reconstituting a governing body has not changed: the governing body proposes to the LEA a draft 'instrument of government' setting out the composition of the governing body. The LEA checks that the instrument complies with the law, confirms that for voluntary and foundation schools it has been approved by the relevant Diocesan body and foundation governors, and then makes the instrument.

TIMETABLE

Unlike previous reconstitutions, governing bodies have until 1 September 2006 to complete the reconstitution. From March 2003 governing bodies have been able to make arrangements so that new governing bodies may be in place on 1 September. There is a new requirement that nursery schools have governing bodies and these must be in place by 1 September.

SIZE OF GOVERNING BODY

The governing body must have at least 9 members but not more than 20. The minimum for an aided school is 10.

CATEGORIES OF GOVERNOR

Parent governors - the same as previously except that a parent is disqualified from standing if he/she works at the school for more than 500 hours, roughly one third of full-time equivalent, in a school year.

Staff governors - both teaching and support staff paid to work at the school are eligible to be staff governors. The head teacher is a staff governor unless he/she chooses not to be. If there are only two staff governor places, the second place must be reserved for a teacher. If there are only three staff governors, the third place must be reserved for a member of the support staff.

LEA governors - same as previously. LEAs are 'encouraged to appoint high calibre governor candidates to schools that need most support and appoint candidates irrespective of any political affiliation or preferences'. There are no longer automatic places for representatives of parish councils and shire districts on primary school governing bodies.

Community governors - these replace the former co-opted governors. They are appointed by the governing body to represent community interests but could include people who do not live or work near the school but are 'committed to the good governance and success of the school'. Community governors also include the representative governors which special schools had to represent the special needs of the children. Aided schools do not have community governors.

Foundation governors - voluntary and foundation schools will have foundation governors who are appointed by the school's founding body, Church or other organisation to serve the religious character of the foundation, if there is one. Many foundation schools will not have a foundation body and in this case the foundation governors are replaced by partnership governors who are appointed by the governing body following nominations from the parents of registered pupils at the school and other community bodies.

Sponsor governors - were previously included in the co-opted category. Governing bodies can appoint none, one or two sponsor governors. Sponsor governors do not count towards the size of the governing body (see above) and should be persons who give substantial assistance to the school, financially or in kind, or who provide services to the school.

COMPOSITION OF THE GOVERNING BODY

The composition of the governing body will vary according to the school's category. There are though some general principles:

Parent governors: at least one-third except in voluntary aided schools where at least one-third of the governing body must be either appointed or elected parent governors or foundation governors who are eligible to be parent governors;

Staff governors: at least two but no more than one-third, including the head teacher;

LEA governors: at least one but no more than one-fifth (one-tenth in aided schools);

Community governors: one-fifth or more in community schools, one-tenth or more in controlled or foundation schools.

In aided schools, foundation governors must out-number parent, staff and LEA governors by two.

The statutory guidance documents contain, at annex A, examples of constitutional models. Governors are advised to refer to these documents.

TERM OF OFFICE

The term of office is four years but the governing body may decide to set a shorter term of office for one or more categories of governor. The term must be at least one year. The decision must be recorded in the instrument of government.

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE AND DISQUALIFICATION

Appointed governors can be removed from office by the appointing body. Elected governors: parent and staff governors, cannot. Governors can be disqualified if they fail to attend a meeting for six months without the consent of the governing body. Governors are also disqualified if they are bankrupt, a disqualified company director or charity trustee, or they are disqualified from working with children (and also if they refuse to apply for a criminal record certificate from the Criminal Records Bureau). There are also disqualification rules for individuals who have received a prison sentence. The rule which prevented individuals from being a governor of more than two schools has been deleted.

TRANSITIONAL ISSUES

Governors continue in office, even though the governing body has been reconstituted, to serve out the term of their appointment. This may mean that there are more governors than are specified in the instrument for an interim period.

John Fowler is the author with Emily Evans of A guide to the Education Act 2002 published by The Education Network and the Advisory Centre for Education.

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PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
IN CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

John Hopper of the DfES Parental Involvement in Children's Education Team writes about ways of involving parents in schools.

In recent times the Department for Education and Skills has been putting far more focus on involving parents in their children's education, especially those who currently are not involved at all, or only to a very limited extent. We have developed a strategy focused around five key areas, in each of which particular initiatives are being taken forward.

1. Parents and their partnership with schools

We want to narrow the gap between schools and parents by working with schools on a shared understanding that parents are the key to improving educational standards and that they should be proactive in involving them. We are moving towards this by working with the Teacher Training Agency and the National College for School Leadership to develop training materials for teachers and school leaders. We have also developed, in consultation with headteachers, materials for schools - beginning with secondary schools in Excellence in Cities areas - on working in partnership with parents, including the use of different mechanisms for consultation with ordinary parents, not just those on PTAs or who are parent governors, important though their role is.

2. Galvanisation of those parents who are already willing to be involved or who are already involved to some extent

We obviously need different ideas for those parents who are already motivated to be involved or who may indeed already be involved to some degree, a group which is key to the success of parental involvement generally in raising standards. The involvement must begin early and be kept up - it should not be seen as something that only happens when something goes wrong. The upgrading of our parents centre website (www.parentcentre.gov.uk) is a key part of ensuring that this crucial group of parents has access to the information they need to help their child. We are also updating the popular Learning Journey guides to the school curriculum, of which well over 5 million copies have been distributed. We are also working with parents to develop a range of information materials produced by parents, for parents for activities in the home and to support school learning.

3. Support and guidance for parents who canÕt be or are not willing to be involved

There can be a number of reasons why parents - who all want the best for their children - fall into this category. Often they may be willing to be involved on their own terms to some extent, but they lack the time to go about finding out how this might work; modern pressures of life on parents are great. Alternatively, they may have been put off by their own experiences at school and/or real or perceived changes in schools' teaching methods since they themselves were at school. We are working with local parents' groups to develop tailored products, for identified groups of hard to reach parents, which are to be made available in places outside the school environment where such parents go such as shopping centres and doctors' surgeries. The intention here is not in any way to devalue the excellent work many schools do but to reach these parents directly with a product done by parents, for parents, rather than something that risks being seen as done to them by those in authority in school, the Government or elsewhere.

4. The voice of parents - what mechanisms work to give parents a voice within their childrenÕs education?

Parents have many different voices that all want to be heard. We value links with a wide range of parents' organisations, such as NCPTA and the Parent Governor Representatives Network - many of whom will no doubt also be members of NAGM. We take nothing away from the important role these groups play when we say that we need to find ways of making direct contact in particular with hard to reach parents. One way to do this is through the setting up of focus groups of parents from various parts of the country, which we have done to get feedback on the developing Parent Centre website and on the Learning Journey. We also get the views of parents through a bi-annual telephone survey, the next one of which will take place in the autumn term and through the Department's termly stakeholder tracking survey, which asks changing groups of parents, governors, teachers and others their opinion on a set of questions about general and specific educational issues.

5. Managing communications with parents

A lot of people communicate with parents - people inside and outside Government, at local and national level. We are working with a whole range of these partners to try to ensure a consistent message about parents and the importance of their involvement in their children's learning and to try to get them thinking about involving parents as much as possible. We are starting up an e-newsletter for LEAs and hope to arrange a conference in the autumn on spreading good practice.

Finally, the strategy is not set in tablets of stone - it is living, breathing and ever evolving. We welcome constructive comments and contributions so we can all move forward in the right direction. Please feel free to send comments to the Parental Involvement in Children's Education Team at the Department for Education and Skills at carolyn.unsted@dfes.gsi.gov.uk, or write to us at: Parental Involvement in Children's Education Team, Room 2.54, Department for Education and Skills, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BT.

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