Often governors are asked what they actually do.  It is not an easy question to answer, without giving a long list of responsibilities and quoting various pieces of legislation.  A simplified answer to the question is found in the 1998 School Standards & Framework Act, which for the very first time defined the governor’s role and responsibility as being to:

“Conduct the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement”

It is school improvement (Raising Standards) that is the heart and the purpose of school governance.

The law also tells us that as governors we have three strands to our role:

• To Provide a Strategic view                 

Of where the school is going.  What are our long term aims, how will we achieve them and how, as governors do we know how effective the school is?

• To Act as a Critical Friend

By promoting the school and supporting its work by monitoring & evaluating the school’s effectiveness.

• To Ensure Accountability.

Governors are the “responsible” body and it is our job to be accountable to students, their parents and carers and all other stakeholders, for the decisions we make as a governing body and for the academic and personal developmental progress our students make.  It is also our role as governors, to hold the school to account, on behalf of the stakeholder groups who we are representative members of.

These three aspects of the governor’s role and responsibility are explored in more detail during Induction I and II, the courses provided by Four S which we urge all new governors to attend, but it should not be forgotten, nor lost sight of, that everything that governors do should aim towards the improvement of pupil performance.