Today, we at the National Governance Association (NGA) have - in collaboration with sector leadership organisations - published updated guidance for leaders and boards of schools and multi-academy trusts (MATs) about how to ensure good governance.

This is a delicate dance between those paid to lead and those volunteering to govern. Good governance is absolutely a joint enterprise that needs to be built on mutual trust and respect, with all parties clear about their roles and responsibilities.

After all, governance is best described as “who has the power, who makes the decision, whose voices are heard and how account is rendered”.  

This is the sixth edition of the popular resource and is a collaboration between the NGA and other key parties - the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the NAHT school leaders’ union, the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Institute of School Business Leaders (ISBL).

This edition marks a notable evolution, as we have produced two distinct versions to reflect how school governance models have changed: What governing boards and headteachers should expect from each other is aimed at those leading and governing in a single school, academy or local-authority-maintained school federation, and What multi-academy trust boards and CEOs should expect from each other is a guide for those leading and governing multi-academy trusts.

Both versions can be accessed here.

Having two versions allows leaders in both settings to recognise themselves, their specific role and the structure of their organisation, giving them confidence this document is bespoke for them and what they want to achieve.

Core fundamentals

Fundamentally, though, the underlying principles of the two versions are the same: after all the essence of a successful partnership does not change in a school or MAT.

When leaders and the board work together with a focus on their mission, supporting and challenging each other and listening to others, they become an overwhelming force for ensuring sustainability and success for children and young people.

Good relationships based on trust is one of NGA’s eight elements of effective governance, which apply to all contexts and structures.

As such, we have endeavoured in both versions to give the refreshed content a more collaborative feel, while still making it clear that the headteacher’s or chief executive’s accountability to the board must be acknowledged and accepted.

We also emphasise the need for meaningful engagement with a range of stakeholders and have featured more on the obligations of the board as the employer of staff, including development and wellbeing.

Pandemic focus 

It is clear that this sort of ongoing evolution of how governance is run in our school system is vital, as it is clear the role of governing boards came more sharply into the focus during the pandemic and the vital role they can play to support school staff and especially school leaders.

Research funded by the Department for Education before the pandemic, but reported in 2020, showed nine out of 10 headteachers and trust leaders felt supported and challenged by their governing board. 

We hear this, too, with accounts from governing boards across the country telling us that, generally, the challenges of Covid strengthened relationships with leaders even more.

This testing time has underlined the importance of good governance and I would hope helped underline its place as the leader’s first line of accountability, after their own professional accountability.

Inspection paused, but governance by its very nature had to continue.

The power of good governance 

This is why the updates are so crucial because the challenges of governance practice are familiar, both across time and across models but are constantly changing too.

As such, ensuring the checks and balances of how power and influences, if exercised, are operating smoothly is key.

Governance literature often describes the board as setting the vision and strategic direction of the organisation and hires (and, if necessary, fires) the chief executive, who is paid to deliver the vision and strategy.

However, this is a rather glib formulation of a much more nuanced relationship.

The executive - whether a trust CEO or a school’s headteacher - is not a mere agent of delivery; they are the professional whose judgment the board seeks and tests. The emphasis on holding to account, while important, is only half the picture.

Taking the time to establish an open and honest dialogue very early on will make working together so much easier. But if relationships become strained, they can be reset.

In times of trial and stress, reminding all parties that they are indeed on that same team dedicated to achieving their mission can bring people together, pulling in the same direction.

Everyone should know who the boss is, but conversations are not had in that spirit. If a board is operating in a command and control mode that signals a problem.

This does not mean there must be universal agreement, far from it. Not just innovation, but dissent is a good thing as part of the decision-making process.

Exploring radical ideas and differences of opinion without escalating into a conflict, getting entrenched or damaging relationships is crucial. Although this is everyone’s responsibility, the chair of the board is key to facilitating the process.

Well-governed organisations do not fail.

The role of the board should be seen as a protection to both the leader and the organisation, tackling risks and preventing decline. Leaders and boards are tied together by an organisation’s mission: both want the trust or school to do the very best by its pupils, enabling them to flourish.

These documents provide practical advice for making this happen.

Emma Knights is the chief executive of the National Governance Association