What do Governors do?

What does a Governor do?

Role of a school governor

To contribute to the work of the governing board in ensuring high standards of achievement for all children and young people in the school by:

ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the organisation and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
overseeing the financial performance of the organisation and making sure its money is well spent

Activities:

As part of the governing board team, a governor is expected to:

1. Contribute to the strategic discussions at governing board meetings which determine:

the vision and ethos of the school
clear and ambitious strategic priorities and targets for the school  that all children, including those with special educational needs, have access to a broad and balanced curriculum
the school’s budget, including the expenditure of the pupil premium allocation
the school’s staffing structure and key staffing policies
the principles to be used by school leaders to set other school policies

2. Hold executive leaders to account by monitoring the school’s performance; this includes

agreeing the outcomes from the school’s self-evaluation and ensuring they are used to inform the priorities in the school development plan
considering all relevant data and feedback provided on request by school leaders and external sources on all aspects of school performance
asking challenging questions of school leaders
ensuring senior leaders have arranged for the required audits to be carried out and receiving the results of those audits
ensuring senior leaders have developed the required policies and procedures and the school is operating effectively according to those policies
acting as a link governor on a specific issue, making relevant enquiries of the relevant staff, and reporting to the governing board on the progress on the relevant school priority
listening to and reporting to the school’s stakeholders: pupils, parents, staff, and the wider community, including local employers

3. Ensure the school staff have the resources and support they require to do their jobs well, including the necessary expertise on business management, external advice where necessary, effective appraisal and CPD (Continuing Professional Development), and suitable premises and that the way in which those resources are used has impact.

4. When required, serve on panels of governors to:

appoint the headteacher and other senior leaders
appraise the headteacher
set the headteacher’s pay and agree the pay recommendations for other staff
hear the second stage of staff grievances and disciplinary matters
hear appeals about pupil exclusions

The role of a governor is largely a thinking and questioning role, not a doing role.

A governor does NOT:

1. write school policies

2. undertake audits of any sort – whether financial or health & safety - even if the governor has the relevant professional experience

3. spend much time with the pupils of the school – if you want to work directly with children, there are many other voluntary valuable roles within the school

4. fundraise – this is the role of the PTA – the governing board should consider income streams and the potential for income generation, but not carry out fundraising tasks

5. undertake classroom observations to make judgements on the quality of teaching – the governing board monitors the quality of teaching in the school by requiring data from the senior staff and from external sources

6. do the job of the school staff; if there is not enough capacity within the paid staff team to carry out the necessary tasks, the governing board need to consider and rectify this