Parent governor role to be scrapped in schools shakeup

[dejavuatbtn]

Governors are unpaid. Misguided rant.

Maybe not currently, but you just wait.

 

[ROSM]

I know but you clearly said there are good and bad parent governors but they are elected - that was misleading.

There is a process whereby parent governors are chosen by election. Clearly if there is only one candidate provided they are a fit and proper person and pass the checks, they get elected unopposed

That's common sense

I don't know if you are being deliberately obtuse?

 

[Bold Seagull]

There is a process whereby parent governors are chosen by election. Clearly if there is only one candidate provided they are a fit and proper person and pass the checks, they get elected unopposed

That's common sense

I don't know if you are being deliberately obtuse?

Ha ha it has been known!

 

[Guinness Boy]

Got to be a good thing.

Two of the parents at my son's school who were parent governors would have climbed over their own decomposing granny to get the position as the school was an OFSTED outstanding at the time. Under their watch it went from a 1 to a 3 (requires improvement) at which point one sent their son to a private school and the other to a church school.

I'm sure there are decent and well meaning parent governors the length and breadth of the country but my experience is that it was used as a badge of honour for the ruthlessly ambitious.

 

[ROSM]

Got to be a good thing.

Two of the parents at my son's school who were parent governors would have climbed over their own decomposing granny to get the position as the school was an OFSTED outstanding at the time. Under their watch it went from a 1 to a 3 (requires improvement) at which point one sent their son to a private school and the other to a church school.

I'm sure there are decent and well meaning parent governors the length and breadth of the country but my experience is that it was used as a badge of honour for the ruthlessly ambitious.

But the governing body is a mix of Governors including community/Co opted and lea as well as staff and Headteacher

Parent governors are one part of that. governors are also part of the Ofsted review and can be sanctioned if not performing

So without knowing the specifics of the school here or what Ofsted said or saw it's difficult to comment further other than to say that clearly there are people who are status driven in any role but that there should be enough support/control and checking to prevent that from happening.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Got to be a good thing.

Two of the parents at my son's school who were parent governors would have climbed over their own decomposing granny to get the position as the school was an OFSTED outstanding at the time. Under their watch it went from a 1 to a 3 (requires improvement) at which point one sent their son to a private school and the other to a church school.

I'm sure there are decent and well meaning parent governors the length and breadth of the country but my experience is that it was used as a badge of honour for the ruthlessly ambitious.

I probably know which school you are referring to. The frightening thing is the knee jerk decisions parents make because of Ofsted. Ofsted reports are guidance for schools to make improvements, but it doesn't follow that suddenly every child isn't getting a good education. There are some Outstanding rated schools that are harsh competitive teaching environments not always calming places for creative imaginative learning, and there are some good or RI schools that are welcoming nurturing places to learn, but simply miss out of Ofsteds criteria.

Ofsted is too much of a political tool, with too much pressure politically to create Academies, good schools are being harshly inspected. More fool them for moving their children, a move for a primary school child from an established group of friends and teaching environment can set them back in settling down terms far more than any perceived improvement in the teaching they'll achieve.

 

[Guinness Boy]

But the governing body is a mix of Governors including community/Co opted and lea as well as staff and Headteacher

Parent governors are one part of that. governors are also part of the Ofsted review and can be sanctioned if not performing

So without knowing the specifics of the school here or what Ofsted said or saw it's difficult to comment further other than to say that clearly there are people who are status driven in any role but that there should be enough support/control and checking to prevent that from happening.

One of the things that was highlighted as in great need of improvement was the communication between everyone in the leadership and that governors "didn't know what was happening". Since then an oversubscribed school has been leaking pupils alarmingly.

 

[ROSM]

One of the things that was highlighted as in great need of improvement was the communication between everyone in the leadership and that governors "didn't know what was happening". Since then an oversubscribed school has been leaking pupils alarmingly.

That is a damning indictment

When Ofsted interviewed me, I was challenged on pupil attainment, use of pupil premium health and safety etc

We had one area as requires improvement but got a good overall (and good for leadership) because the senior leaders and governors had identified the deficiencies, had put in place a recovery programme that was seeing improvements and also because we had communicated it on our self assessment

So to get what was said by Ofsted in your example is not just a failure of parent governors but all governors and leadership Inc head teacher as a whole

 

[Fountainhead]

Petition to get a referendum on this decision- (or to at least get it properly debated[)SIZE=1][/SIZE]

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124747

 

[BadFish]

I'm no fan of this government, or their educational policies, but I am a school governor and a parent of 2 kids at the school, but I'm not actually a 'parent governor' but I'm formally co-opted onto the governing body.

I don't think the idea is to get rid of parents being governors, it is having the right parents with the right skills doing the job. Therefore they are looking for accountants, solicitors, architects, engineers, human resources, educational professionals etc. etc. to be on governing bodies for those reasons - your role as parent is just your motivation for offering your time.

They'll never stop having parents as governors because who else would make up the majority of the governing bodies? But rather than having a playground election and Betty gets voted on because she has the most friends, the school needs to target their skills gap and try to attract the right people, the right parents, to their governing body.

At least this is how I've understood it, and how I personally was co-opted onto our governing body.

Oh, and as far as I'm aware, governors don't get paid. You can claim travel expenses, but I would think most rarely do.

While your take on this does seem reasonable it sounds as if the government are trying to offload important parts of the running of the school to unpaid volunteers.

Surely, if the skills that you refer to are necessary for the running of the school then the school should employ those people directly. What happens to those schools that do not have access to an accountant, solicitor etc etc. Are they supposed to go without? The board of governors remit is not to provide the skills necessary for running the school it is to oversee said running surely?

 

[BadFish]

they really should introduce classes on government, then people would maybe learn that a white paper is a document for discussion, not a fixed statement of policy. an awful lot of assumptions, fear and indignation for something that is speculative.

You call it assumptions, fear and indignation. Others may call it discussion, which as you point out is the point of the white paper.

Nothing to see here.