October 7, 2014  

School Governance & Governors

A recent Wandsworth Council report blithely announced that governing bodies are being shifted from a stakeholder model to one based on skill sets. There was clearly a presumption that this was not only the Government’s intention but also a “good thing”. Well as a semi-detached governor of some 20/30 years standing, I have a rather different view.

I take it that the stakeholder model refers to school governing bodies dominated by local authority nominees, or local politicians, community representatives, teachers, trade unions and others with a “stakeholder” involvement with the school. I am further assuming that the move towards skill sets refers to knowledge of budgets, of HR skills, and the thousand and one other skills that could be said to make up the requirements of a managing board. I suppose the polite way of describing this is calling it a professionalization of the governing body role.

Could anything be worse! Surely the point of the governing body is not to do the work of the professional staff, or to be unpaid accountants and treasurers, or to stand in for what the local authority once did, or to manipulate spreadsheets, but to make the school part of the community. It is really important that the community should have a say in its local schools, but under this Government schools are becoming independent businesses run by and frequently in the interests of the heads.

Let’s hope that it is not too late for an incoming Government to stop and indeed reverse this trend.

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About Tony Belton

Labour Councillor for Latchmere Ward 1972-2022, now Battersea Park Ward, London Borough of Wandsworth Ever hopeful Spurs supporter; Lane visit to the Lane, 1948 Olympics. Why don't they simply call the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Lane? Once understood IT but no longer

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