Strategic Governance
The following article which first appeared in Governors’ Agenda in December 2006 was written as a response to those who assert that the current model of governance is not working and who therefore suggest scrapping the system and starting again. I argue that we can do a lot to make the current system work more effectively.
The worst features of school governance are not inevitable consequences of the current model but arise from distortions and accretions which have diverted many governing bodies from their strategic role. So how can governing bodies get themselves back on the strategic track?
1. Focusing on what matters
Governing bodies need to jettison much of the mechanistic work which clutters too many agendas. This sort of work has built up because of national governments’ legislative enthusiasm since 1988, accompanied by the diligence of local government officers and governors’ fearfulness or inertia.
Governors need to prioritise and delegate so that they can focus on the strategies that are really going to make a difference in their school. The delegation planner provides a tool that enables governing bodies to delegate more effectively. The trick is to delegate as much as possible to the headteacher. This is not dumping on the headteacher; it is actually less time consuming for headteachers to take action on areas that have been delegated than to advise the governing body on the same issue, take part in discussion and then go off and implement the decision - as too often happens now.
2. Avoiding the operational
Governing bodies often find it easier to discuss issues at the level of operational detail; some of the government’s own regulations have drawn governors into operational matters; and sometimes headteachers request governor involvement in inappropriate detail. All this needs to be resisted; it undermines the headteacher’s operational leadership and it means that governing bodies have no time for their strategic role.
3. Thinking long term and whole school
A governing body which thinks strategically about pupils’ learning will not be satisfied with short term, knee jerk tactics which may raise achievement in the short term but quickly reach a plateau. Instead they will aim for slower but more sustainable improvement achieved, for example, through more parental involvement, developing staff across the school, better strategies for inclusion, more effective pupil tracking.
4. Talking whole community
It has been said that the strength of school governance is that governors are deeply committed to their school but that it is also a weakness because they are unwilling to think whole community. If governing bodies start to think in terms of their children they will realise that their school which ignore their community cannot achieve all the outcomes required by Every Child Matters and that schools in collaboration with one another can achieve more than schools operating in isolation.
5. Taking time to reflect
One of the most useful functions of effective governing bodies is that they consider issues at some distance from the day-to-day pressures of school management. In the reports that they request and subsequent discussions they can help their headteachers lift their focus from the operational to the strategic.
6. Taking account of external factors
Governing bodies cannot be strategic unless they are aware of outside influences in the community which may affect the school’s work, and developments in national policy. Governors can expect their headteacher to advise them on much of the national aspects, and they may be best placed to pool their insights into their community. The demographics of school staffing is one of the factors behind workforce remodelling while the demographics of an aging population is producing a widening pool of potential volunteers that a governing body in touch with its community will dip into.
7. Identifying opportunities and links
The best strategic thinking identifies opportunities, sometimes from seemingly bleak circumstances, and links apparently disparate issues into a more manageable whole. For example, the requirement on schools to have policies on race, gender, disability, travellers, looked after children etc can look like a burdensome list of hoops for schools to jump through; or they can be considered together under the umbrella of inclusion and seen as a way to raise achievement by removing barriers to learning.
8. Making room for creative thinking
The best strategies are not always the most obvious and governing bodies which have managed to clear some of the dead wood from their agendas may find time for creative thinking. It should be possible to include in a ninety minute or two-hour governing body meeting a ten minute slot for governors to get into small ‘buzz groups’ to consider a particularly thorny issue and report back. The ideas generated from such a session may help everyone to see the issue in a different light – and it will also help to energise the rest of the meeting!
9. Keeping the focus on effectiveness
All of the above is aimed at securing the best outcomes for children and young people. The question that governors should ask about all the decisions that they make is: ‘what impact will this have on our children?’ The focus of governing body evaluation – is ‘has the impact that we anticipated been realised?’
Given a willingness to develop, there is nothing to prevent governing bodies from being more strategic than many currently are. If we can help them to achieve this, our schools and their pupils will be better served. We might just discover that our model of governance is ‘fit for its 21st century purpose’; if it is not, it will be strategic governing bodies that recognise the fact and grasp the opportunities afforded by a new model.