Town halls should tackle poor school governors, says Ofsted

27 Feb 13
Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has challenged councils to take rapid action in schools where the governing body is underperforming.

By Vivienne Russell | 27 February 2013

Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has challenged councils to take rapid action in schools where the governing body is underperforming.

In a speech at the Policy Exchange think-tank today, the chief inspector of schools also called for a more professional and better-trained cadre of school governors, with some being paid for their efforts.

On the role of local authorities, Wilshaw said they had a ‘vital’ part to play in driving school improvement.

He said: ‘The best local authorities use their powers effectively. Yet my annual report found that since 2007, nearly half of local authorities have not any interim executive boards in place, and 70 local authorities had not issued a single warning notice. This is unacceptable.’

Councils should use the school performance data collected and published by Ofsted to support their interventions and help them act decisively, he said. ‘This is something we will be looking at very carefully in our forthcoming programme of local authority inspections and any future inspections of academy chains.’

Wilshaw also made a plea for school governors who were equipped with professional skills. He said that, where there was a shortage of suitably qualified local volunteers, ‘radical solutions’ should be considered.

‘I have said it before and I will say it again, we should not rule out payment to governors with the necessary expertise to challenge and support schools with a long legacy of underperformance.

‘I want to therefore issue a challenge both to the public and private sectors today: are you encouraging your best people to get involved in school governance? If not, why not? For example, all large and medium-sized companies could insist that their senior and middle managers joint the governing bodies of local schools.’

Responding to Wilshaw’s comments, Emma Knights, chief executive of the National Governors’ Association, said governors were able to do a professional job without being paid.

‘There is no evidence to suggest that paying governors would improve governance,’ she said.

‘All surveys show a significant majority of existing governors do not support remuneration; and question the motivation of those who would only govern for payment. In 2011, just under 28% of respondents to our June survey supported remuneration for governors and in 2012 this had fallen further to 25%.’


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