International schools need to conduct skills audits of their governing boards and ensure that they have a raft of professions represented in order to oversee school operations more effectively, according to a panel of international heads and governors.
Speaking at the ISC-Research Edruptors Conference on Tuesday, Ian Hunt, the CEO and chair of Haileybury Almaty in Kazakhstan, said that it is important to make sure the right skills are available from a range of professions.
“In the UK it’s a little bit different because you could probably offer a template for the construction of a board and that will fit in most school and most requirements,” he said.
“[But] in an international context, because of the differences within jurisdictions, because of the challenges that are in different areas, you’ve got to have different people with different skills - that’s critical.”
He said schools and their boards should be proactive in identifying where they may lack the right skill sets and looking to find people in the parent community or based locally willing to be involved.
“It’s about the chair and the rest of the board and the executive saying, ‘We need an architect,’ or, ‘We need a surveyor,’ or, ‘We need a lawyer’…‘We need somebody who’s going to have specific skill set in a certain area,’” Mr Hunt added.
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Also speaking at the session was parent-governor David Axtell, former deputy chair of the council for St Christopher’s School in Bahrain and the managing director of an insurance group. He said that, having served on international school boards, he has seen how more diversity in job roles within boards can help.
“I think some schools would benefit from fundraising experts, [experts in] project management [and] careers advisers, and I think this is where an educationalist could support that but also local companies could provide some support,” he said.
Diversity in international school governing boards
Mr Axtell also noted that diversity on boards with regard to personal characteristics could be beneficial, and said this should also be something international schools consider.
“I’ve also been interested to read a certain amount of research, particularly coming from the United States, that shows that diverse boards - around ethnicity, gender and age - produce the best results and so there are now state organisations [and] investment firms that insist on diverse boards within organisations they work with,” he added.
Vanita Uppal, the director of The British School New Delhi in India, agreed that bringing in people with the right skills is important, saying that her school regularly co-opts parents to specific projects to utilise their insights.
“Say, for example, we were referring to a building project - we have around the table on the buildings working group parents who were architects, who were environmentalists, who were good with air quality, with working with big infrastructure firms, but they were not governors but were co-opted so our board has that provision,” she said.
She noted, though, that schools can’t just expect this to happen. It is about ensuring that good relationships exist across the school community, so that the school is able to call for help when needed.
Buddying up and legal risks
Uppal also said that international schools need to think proactively about how they ensure that any new governors coming on to the board are supported to ensure they feel able to contribute to the best of their ability, explaining that her school buddies up new and experienced governors.
“Every governor has a buddy governor who’s been in the system for longer than the newly elected governor, and that is key succession planning and continuity, which I think is critical in elected boards,” she added.
Mr Axtell also said there needed to be more transparency with new governors about the potential risks they open themselves up to by taking on the role in terms of assuming liability for a school - something that is often misunderstood by individuals and schools.
“One common misconception that I encounter is that indemnification that is often provided to board members provides absolute cover, and frankly it doesn’t,” he said.
“Some countries indeed prohibit the indemnification of directors, so it’s important schools undertake a thorough risk assessment and ensure they have adequate procedures in place. But ultimately the board needs to ensure they have adequate [governance] processes in place.”
He noted, however, that this is not easy because of the “countless variables” and “local law jurisdictions” that international schools are subject to around the world, meaning they cannot simply follow best practice elsewhere. Instead, they need to “consider their own needs and own circumstances”.
Dan Worth is senior editor at Tes
