Steve Gullick - roles of governors and school policy

On the 23^rd of January 2012 we had a guest speaker called Steve Gullick. He spoke to us about the role of governors and school policy.

Who and what is the role of a governing body? 

Welsh assembly Govt (2010)

“ A governor is a volunteer who cares about teaching, learning and children. They represent those people with a key interest in the school, including parents, staff, the local community and the local authority.” 

As the quote stated above, governors are people who decide to volunteer  to be part of the governing team. These people have a huge impact on schools and teachers. 

Governors conduct a legal requirement by conducting the school with a vie to promoting high standards of the educational achievement. They are in charge of the whole setting.

They help set appropriate school targets for pupil achievement for key stage 2,3 and 4. They must ensure that these targets are set and it is the teachers/schools responsibility to do so. 

Governors decide whether to permanently exclude someone or not with reference from the teacher, they look at the pros and cons of the action to be taken. This is how the governors have a big impact in affecting a school if the  inspection didn’t go well. 

Governors take general responsibly for the conduct of the school, they decide basic school rules such as if the school must have uniform or not and the schools start/finish times etc. They also determine the staff complement and pay for all the staff in the school setting including teachers, assistance, one to one support staff etc.

After an inspection has taken place in a school, the governors draw up a plan and they are responsible that this plan has been planned and taken into consideration.

England and Wales have governors body whereas Scotland doesn’t. The governor’s body is made up out of 9-20 different governors.  Governors must meet up at least once a term to discuss general topics and make improvements.

Governors are also responsible for staff disciplinary. They look at the incident and decide on what the punishments will be. A lot of caution and fair judgment must be made to ensure everyone is equally treated. 

Some debates have been going on, on whether school governors should be paid for doing this job or not. If not then why shouldn’t they? A lot of people believe that if this becomes a paid job, governors might not take their jobs as well as they do without getting paid as they will be working for money rather than their interest. I personally agree with this statement however I believe that they should get a reward for their hard work.

A governor can hold their place for up to four years and then they must leave their chair unless they are elected again.

References:

Gullick S, (2012) ‘Roles of the governing body’. What is Education? Policy and practice BA (hons), faculty of Humanities. Unpublished.

Welsh Assembly Government (2010) School governors. Retrieved 28^th January 2010 from http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/schoolshome/schoolfundingandplanning/schoolgov/?lang=en