GOVERNANCE


Ron Hill is currently visiting research fellow in education at the University of Stirling and has published many research studies into FE governance. He is providing development and support for college governors and clerks through the Education and Training Foundation.


The crucial role of governors in supporting professional identity


Lecturers have felt unloved, marginalised and inadequately supported as professionals over


the years. Governing bodies must be pivotal in making them feel positive, valued and happy By Ron Hill


This article focuses on the link between the development of the professional identity of teachers and trainers in further education colleges, and the role of those organisations’ governing bodies. It suggests that this link can be usefully framed, and enhanced, through careful consideration of the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training. Since the incorporation of FE colleges in 1993, all staff are employed by the governing body, which is the manifestation of the ‘further education corporation’. However, it is usually the case that, for day-to-day matters, the management of all college staff (other than identified senior staff) is usually delegated to the chief executive and senior management team. This division makes it clear that the


governing body addresses college strategy while the chief executive implements and manages college priorities emerging from the governing body’s strategy. In 1998, five years after incorporation,


I surveyed 2,500 full-time lecturers who were members of the former union NATFHE (National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, now part of the University and College Union) to gain an insight into the psychological contract for lecturers. There was a 27.5 per cent response rate (687 respondents).


“A good place for governors to start would be in understanding the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training.”


12 SPRING 2017 • INTUITION RESEARCH


The findings revealed that 43.5 per cent of full-time lecturer respondents selected ‘low’ when asked to reflect on the level of trust and confidence they received from the governing body. In addition, 26.2 per cent selected


‘don’t know’ in relation to this question. Only 3.6 per cent of full-time lecturer respondents believed they enjoyed a ‘high’ level of trust and confidence from the governing body. Even 20 years ago, it should have been a matter for concern that professional lecturers were clearly feeling unloved, marginalised, unsupported, inadequately supported and/or not recognised as professionals. However, it is my view that the


intervening years have seen only limited progress in measures to enhance the professional identity of teachers, trainers and other practitioners. So, what do governing bodies think


they are doing in regard to professional identity of the staff they employ? The start, as is often the case, is the


strategic plan. Sometimes these include a human resource development (HRD) section, but rarely have I seen any form of HRD plan which specifically refers to the enhancement of professional identity. There are no published studies to


draw upon and so I can only reflect on the many meetings of governors I’ve attended. I think the staff are appreciated


by governors, especially by those governors who engage with the college through imaginative governor development events like governor/ learner curriculum visits and governor/ staff focus groups. Some governors may assume that


References • Hill, R (2000) A study of the views of full-time further education lecturers regarding their college corporations and agencies of the further education sector. Journal of Further and Higher Education Vol 24 No 1, 2000


• Shain, F. and Gleeson, D. (1999) Under new management – changing conceptions of teacher professionalism and policy in the further education sector. Journal of Education Policy 14(4) pp 445 - 462


new recruits are aware of professional identity, rather than it requiring continued and sustained development. Governors might also form assumptions about college staff from their engagement with staff governors – this will inevitably be a highly variable method for gaining staff awareness. In addition, there are the staff surveys,


observation of teaching reports, OFSTED reports, audit reports, HR data reports etc. These documents present a partial picture only of staff, are often issue-focused, and do not address any long-term notion of professional identity or related development. In many cases, governors may have to be sensitive to staff who adopt tactics to deal with managerial imperatives, but essentially feel negatively towards their employer. This is the ‘unwilling compliance’ as identified by Shain and Gleeson (1999). We may ask: does professional identity matter? Well, the psychological contract


certainly does i.e. how each employee feels about the employer, the job expected to be done, and the specific deal between employer and employee. Notions of professional identity will count as part of every employee’s


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