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FEATURE: SCHOOL GOVERNANCE
for example. We also know that 39% said they were, or had been, a parent governor. Anecdotally, we know that many parent governors, when they finish their term, go on to be co-opted into a different role on the same board, thus populating the board with parents. This leaves very little room for “fresh blood”. It could also mean that for those coming in without the sector knowledge, being surrounded by those “in the know” is intimidating. Indeed, we found that among our 9% of respondents with no prior knowledge, a higher percentage reported facing barriers such as “lack of experience of the English education system” (23% of these respondents vs 9% of all respondents). Finally, among the governors and trustees we
Now let’s go back to the public poll. When we
looked into the data, it’s clear that those who understand governance are more likely to be older, white, middle class, more educated and higher earning. These characteristics had a significant bearing on how likely a person is to know what governors are responsible for across the four questions. For example, when looking at the data by age of respondent, on the question regarding overseeing the finances, 27% of 16 to 24 year-olds (rightly) thought that governors/trustees are responsible, which rose to 56% of 65 to 75 year-olds – a significant 29% difference. Data from our governor survey suggests that
governors, too, are typically older, white and more educated. More than half (57%) of respondents to this survey said they were aged 55 or over, and nearly a third (32%) were 65 or over. 90% described themselves as white. 79% were educated to at least graduate degree level, despite the fact that there’s no requirement to have achieved any particular ‘level’ educationally (governors only need to be 18 or older). So there’s a clear correlation between the
profiles of those people who are more likely to know about governance, and those who are themselves serving governors. This suggests that there’s a section of society that isn’t fully aware of the role and may be prevented from accessing it, due to this lack of awareness. We also asked respondents to our governor
survey about diversity on their own boards in terms of gender, age, race, social class and disability. While gender diversity fared pretty well, and age a little less well, the real issues came with governors’ reflections about diversity by ethnicity, social class and disability on their boards – all of which were perceived to be found wanting. Back to our public poll, and we asked a fifth
and final question – had they been a governor, and would they be interested in the role in the future? Interestingly, if we pull out just those respondents who would consider becoming a governor if they knew more about it or “in the future”, we can see a stark difference here in age and ethnicity. Younger respondents were much more likely to be interested than older respondents - with 26% of 16 to 24 year-olds
July/August 2022
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saying they “might consider it if they knew more about it”, compared with only 7% of 65 to 75 year-olds. Similarly, when we analyse by ethnicity, just 29% of white respondents would consider the role, compared to 51% of Asian/Asian British respondents, 46% of Black/African/Caribbean/Black British respondents, and 40% of mixed/multiple ethnic group respondents. This throws up positive opportunities to
improve both age and ethnic diversity on boards, if we can do more to raise awareness and build on this higher propensity among younger people and those from ethnic minorities to consider governance. Back to our governor survey, and we wanted
to know how people had come into the role in the first place. We found that most governors and trustees arrived in the role through a “closed- shop” route – e.g., having worked in the school sector or been parents of school-age children. Only 9% said that they’d had no knowledge of the sector when they started. What we’re seeing is an overrepresentation on
governing boards of people with (often strong) pre-existing links to the sector – retired teachers,
surveyed, the majority (74%) feel the difference they make isn’t noticed by the public, with 56% feeling it isn’t valued. Interestingly, this hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm for the role. Nearly 9 in 10 (89%) of those surveyed would recommend being a governor to others, with 96% of those saying this is because “you can make a difference”. Encouragingly, 92% said they plan to finish their term of office, and nearly half (46%) plan to do another role or term when their current term finishes. So it’s clear: there’s a missing pool of talent on
governing boards – people whose fresh perspectives and breadth of skills and knowledge from outside the school sector would help schools to thrive. They may not yet be aware of the opportunity, but are more likely to be keen to explore it on the basis of knowing more, either now or in the future. The challenge to all of us within the sector, and importantly to those outside the sector, is to make sure that everyone in society knows about school governance, not just the type of person who’s currently more likely to be in the role. We’re calling on the media, government at all levels, as well as schools and trusts themselves, to do more to bring this pool of talent to the table.
For the full report, including links to free resources, please go to GovernorHub’s news and blogs website The Hoot at
bit.ly/ghreport22
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