Gateshead Governors’ Conference
Governors’ role in Monitoring and
Evaluating the Work of the school.
Facilitated by
Alan Sergison
To provide a sense of direction for the work of
The school.
How well does the governing body
fulfil its statutory duties in helping
to shape the direction of the
school, and do they have a good
understanding of its strengths and
weaknesses?
To hold School to
account for the
standards and
quality of education
provided.
To support the work
of the school as a
reflective friend.
Strategic Direction (1)
Brunton proposes that there has been a significant increase over
the last three decades in the control that schools exercise over
their future direction and strategic plans as a results of the
“unprecedented changes in the responsibilities that schools face”
(2006:129).
Successive governments since the 1980s have increased the
amount of autonomy that governing bodies and headteachers
have for managing schools by delegating resource management,
facilitating new governance and school improvement models and
workforce remodelling. However this has been within a
framework that has equally demanded increased accountability
through a national curriculum, published league tables, external
inspection, responsiveness to local circumstances and national
standards for heads and teachers.
Strategic Direction (2)
This trend is continued in The Schools White Paper 2010, “what
is needed most of all is decisive action to free our teachers
from constraint and improve professional status and authority,
raise the standards set by our curriculum and qualifications to
match the best in the world and, having freed schools from
external control, hold them effectively to account for the
results they achieve” (HM Government, 2010:7)
To begin with, some basic
questions for us to consider.
•What is school for?
•Whose school is it anyway?
•How do you know where your school is going?
Oh Dear, I do not know
which way to go!
Where do you
want to go?
I don’t know!
I don’t know!
Well it really
doesn’t matter
what which you go
then does it!
No I suppose not!
Strategic Direction
So, how are you as governors going to contribute in an informed
way to decisions around the strategic direction of the school?
The assumption is you have to get into school to become better
informed.
•How do you currently do this?
•What are the advantages and disadvantage of current methods
of monitoring and evaluating?
Discuss these on your tables and make notes.
What do we mean by monitoring and
evaluating?
Let us have a look at what governors might monitor and evaluate.
•Getting started – breaking down barriers!
•Developing a protocol for classroom visits – what is acceptable,
what is not?
•Pupil work scrutiny
•Scrutiny of teacher’s planning
What is OFSTED’s view of what constitutes good governance?
HOMEWORK
A quiz – How much do you know?
Finally – remember you are not inspectors!
You are not inspecting the quality of provision in the school, that
is not the role.
You would not dream of questioning your bank manager about his
knowledge of financial services – or would you !!?
You would not expect to have a governor of the health authority
in the theatre monitoring and evaluating a surgical procedure!
So, do not fall into he trap of making sweeping
judgements – remember your role is as a critical friend –
you are simply visiting the school to build your
knowledge and understanding of the daily life of the
school so that you can contribute in an informed and
considered way to decisions around the strategic
direction of your school.
Remember the protocol – This is not inspection.
Hold on!
Are you sure that it the
correct scalpel for that
incision Sir John?