Who runs this school? Governors and Directors…

The governors are a central part of the leadership of the school, deciding on the strategic direction and overall conduct as well as overseeing policies and finances. They are there to support the Headteacher and senior leadership team in realising the vision and ethos of the school. They are also there to provide challenge so that the school is continually improving. This relationship between the governors and the school, the so-called ‘critical friend’ is fundamental to good governance.

Academies are independent of Local Authority control which means that the governing body has greater autonomy but they also have greater responsibility. In a single academy or an academy within an umbrella trust, the governors are the Directors of the company. Multi-academies are more complex corporate structures but the Directors sit on the main Board which retains the legal responsibility for running the overall organisation; ‘governors’ sitting on local governing bodies of the separate schools are more like committee members. In a sponsored academy, the sponsor will retain the right to appoint the majority of Directors.

The size and make-up of the Board will be dictated by the Articles of Association. However, a significant number of governors/Directors are appointed by the Members which gives a level of control in ensuring that the Board has a balance of skills and experience and is truly able to provide effective direction and governance. There will also be governors elected from the staff body as well as parent governors elected from the parents of current pupils who help to ensure that the focus of the Board always remains on the pupils themselves and on providing the best possible education.

The Board of Governors works as a team and is a ‘corporate entity’. This means that Governors are bound by decisions made by the Board and are loyal to them even if they did not vote for them.

The Headteacher and Governing Body work together to run the school. Reporting to the Board and providing such information, advice and recommendations as are required to carry out its function, the Headteacher remains responsible for the day-to-day running and implementation of the strategic vision, acting within the agreed framework.

The House of Commons Education and Employment Committee’s report on the role of the school governors says:

“School governors are a large, usually unsung, army of volunteers whose contribution to the life of our schools has been too little appreciated. There is much to celebrate about the contribution made by our school governors. Effective governing bodies bring benefits to the schools they serve, not only in terms of community involvement and accountability, but also in terms of overall school improvement.”

However, governors must remember that they are also Directors of a charitable company and consequently have legal duties and responsibilities to observe. They have a fiduciary duty to their company, ie they must act with the ‘utmost good faith’. They also have a responsibility to ensure that the company complies with charity law requirements.

Responsibilities also bring potential liabilities, although these should not generally be a threat to a governor who is acting in good faith. In an extreme situation, a governor who is found to be acting fraudulently could be charged under criminal law and receive a prison sentence of up to ten years. Governors could also find themselves disqualified from acting as a director of a UK company for a period of up to 15 years as well as subject to a fine.

5 Rules of successful teleconferencing for schools

Since 1^st September 2013, maintained schools have been permitted to agree alternative arrangements for governors to participate or vote at meetings of the governing body. This could be done via telephone or video conferencing. Any governors participating by in this way will count towards the quorum.

The relaxation in the Regulations has caused a lot of discussion amongst governing bodies about how the process will work and whether it is opens the way to virtual governors’ meetings. Many regarded the change as a new and novel development in governance of schools. But is it?

In fact, the change brings maintained schools into line with what is already happening in academies across the country. The model Articles of Association include the provision that ‘any director shall be able to participate in meetings of the Directors by telephone or video conference’ so long as he/she has given notice and that suitable equipment is accessible.

I attended a Board meeting last night where an academy used telephone conferencing for the first time. A governor had requested the opportunity to attend by telephone as she was away from home but wished to contribute to a very important discussion that was due to take place. The initial request threw the school into some confusion as to how this would be achieved. After investigations, a new speakerphone was purchased and a conference call service provider set up. It quickly became clear that not only was this a system that worked, but it could work well.

The majority of Directors working in professional or business roles outside of education, were experienced in the use of teleconferencing. Others may take time to adapt. Of course, nothing will replace the personal presence of a Director in school to see first hand what is going on. Nevertheless, there are some guidelines to bear in mind:

1. Be careful of your surroundings. Consider confidentiality and sensitivity of information and do not conduct your conversation in a place where you will be overheard. NEVER take part in a meeting if you are travelling on a train – apart from inadvertently sharing information, it is extremely annoying to other passengers!
2. Pay attention! It will very quickly become clear to everyone if a person is not listening to the proceedings particularly if they are asked for their vote. Focus on the matters being discussed and do not try to multi-task by reading emails or watching TV.
3. Conferencing enables Directors to ‘participate in meetings’. This does not mean that they simply dial in for the items on the agenda that they are interested in!
4. Identify yourself if you speak. This is more relevant for the people in the meeting room. Whilst everyone present can see who they are the person on the other end of the line can’t.
5. Be respectful. This should, of course, apply to all meetings of Directors but it is more pronounced where some attendance is via conferencing. Try not to interrupt or overtalk – it is confusing and ultimately wastes time.

Zero-hours contracts – use and abuse

Judy acts as Clerk to the Governing Body of a number of schools. She is contracted through the Governance unit of her local County Council who are her employer and pay her for her hours. Judy has been working for the Governance unit since their creation some years ago and wasn’t ever given a written employment contract, although subsequent colleagues have been. Until today she didn’t realise that she could be on a zero-hours contract. She is happy with the relationship, as are the Governance unit and the schools she provides services for.

So what is the problem? Why have zero-hours contracts become so frowned upon? The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development estimate around a million people on zero-hours contracts and the media has been full of stories of employees forced to work unsociable hours and having to remain ‘on call’ without payment. Sports Direct was highlighted as an employer with 90% of staff on zero-hours contracts. Although the national minimum wage applied, they were not obliged to offer sick leave or holiday pay, and most importantly did not guarantee any regular hours each week. This left individuals unaware of the hours they would be working and not knowing whether they could afford basic outgoings such as rent or food.

But are zero-hours contracts the fundamental problem or is it simply an abuse of the relationship between employer and employee? According to ACAS guidance:

‘Generally, as an employer, you are not obliged to offer work to workers on zero-hours contracts – but nor are they obliged to accept any work you offer.’

To be truly successful this flexibility needs to work both ways so that the worker is not obliged to accept work offered. This is how the County Council Governance unit operates effectively with ever-shifting requirements for clerking services. When the need arises for a clerk to a particular meeting or hearing, the call goes out for a suitable volunteer from the pool of clerks. The individual is paid for the hours worked and the County Council is not required to employ workers whose services may not be fully utilised.

For many individuals, the zero-hours contract is a perfect opportunity to find work without the commitment of fixed working hours. Judy uses clerking to pay for ‘treats’ that she and her husband enjoy now that they have both retired.

Of course, the zero-hours contract is also used by organisations to avoid an employment relationship arising with consequent liabilities. However, any court or tribunal will review the reality of the situation to determine whether the individual is an employee. Judy, who has been working with regular governing bodies for many years and who is required to give a term’s notice of her intention to leave, is almost certainly an employee, despite any contractual intention. Judy, and others like her, will have the full protection of employment legislation.

Ed Milliband has said that he will outlaw zero-hours contracts if he is elected. Whilst there is undeniably abuse of the relationship by unscrupulous employers, the zero-hours contract remains a useful vehicle for those willing and able to maximise the potential in the flexible arrangements.

What is an ‘academy’?

According to the DfE website, “academies are publicly-funded independent schools that provide a first-class education”.

Of course the last part of that statement is not always true as recent stories hitting the press about failing academies have shown. What is true is that academies are independent of Local Authority control and have much greater freedoms than maintained schools. Arguably this means that under good management, an academy has more scope to excel and to maximise their resources for the best benefit of their pupils since they are not constrained by the policy or approach of their Local Authority.

The idea for publicly funded state schools was initially introduced in the late 1980s by the Conservative government. City Technology Colleges had private business sponsors, specialised in mainly technology-based subjects such as science, mathematics and technology and were intended to be located in urban areas. The programme met with significant opposition by Local Authorities and was abandoned after only 15 CTCs had been created.

The legislation for CTCs was amended by the Labour government in 2000 to enable City Academies which would replace failing schools in deprived areas. Again, sponsors were appointed, and schools were independent from Local Authority control. In 2002, the name of these sponsored schools was changed to ‘Academies’.

The Coalition Government expanded the programme and streamlined the process to enable more schools to become Academies. In 2010 the legislation was extended to include primary and secondary schools. Unlike the earlier academies, no external sponsor was required. Initially only schools assessed as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted were able to convert and the first schools became ‘Converter Academies’ in September 2010.

The Academies Act 2010 was a watershed moment in the move to a fully independent, yet state-funded, education system. Prior to this only poorly performing secondary schools were covered by the academies programme. However, the Act meant that suddenly academy status was something to aspire to, an indicator of quality as only ‘outstanding’ schools could convert.

Since then, the programme has continued to grow exponentially with all schools now given the opportunity to convert to academy status. The Department for Education’s (‘DfE’) website states that ‘Any school or PRU which is performing well can now submit an application to convert into a stand-alone academy’. In addition, schools can now choose to join with other schools as part of a multi-academy or umbrella arrangement as long as they can demonstrate that at least one school is performing well and the group has the capacity to improve and sustain performance.

The academies programme is here to stay. Introduced by the Conservative government and then made its own by successive Labour and Coalition governments, there is no formal opposition from any of the main political parties. With the funding to Local Authorities declining rapidly and consequent cut-backs in the services they provide, schools are being left with little choice about whether to convert to academy status.

It should not be forgotten that academy status is simply the legal vehicle through which the service is provided. An academy is a charitable company with the consequent responsibilities and liabilities, but it is also still a school. Only with effective leadership and management can the full potential offered by the structure be explored and maximised. Despite what advocates of the programme claim, academy status is not a magic formula that will transform any school into an outstanding place of teaching and learning full of well-behaved high achievers. But for a strong leadership team, academy status offers the potential to make the school their own, unfettered by the policies of a remote Local Authority which is out-of-touch with the specific needs and requirements of particular schools. The company structure underpins the organisation and facilitates the provision of an outstanding service, ie the provision of education!

The ‘business’ of schools

The end of the first week of the new academic year seems like a fitting moment to stop and reflect on what I do in the ‘business’ of schools.

For some years I have been working with maintained schools as their Clerk to the Full Governing Body and, more recently, as Secretary to various Academies and Multi-Academies. By background I am dual-qualified as a Solicitor and Chartered Company Secretary and my experience meant that I am in a unique place to help with the amazing transformation that the educational landscape is undergoing as a result of the academies programme.

All schools need to have a commercial awareness and an ability to balance the books – albeit with an income stream that comes from public funding. However, the emergence of the academy has brought into sharp focus what this means. Whether people like it or not, schools are businesses offering a specialist service, that of educating our children. And as with any business, the backroom workers like me are fundamental to the smooth and efficient running of the organisation.

As with any service industry, the performance of the business is judged on the provision of that service with around 75-80% of expenditure devoted to the staffing costs of the personnel who provide that service. With schools, ‘success’ often equates to exam/test results or position on a league table. Behind this frontline in an efficient organisation is a team who ensure that the legal, financial and day-to-day administrative functions are fulfilled.

This is what I do: ensuring the backroom systems are in place to provide efficient and effective governance so that the frontline staff, the teachers and other educationalists, can focus on providing an excellent service inspiring our young people!