The Department for Education is facing calls to strengthen the role of national governance experts so they can focus more on schools with “identified weaknesses” or where the safety of staff or pupils is “threatened”.

The DfE published recommendations today on how to improve the National Leaders of Governance (NLG) programme, in which experienced chairs of governors mentor peers in other schools.

A report published today by the DfE’s NLG Advisory Group says, in future, NLGs should provide expert support to schools and trusts “where there is an identified weakness in organisational governance”.

Governance: Supporting schools with ‘significant need’

It also says NLGs should have greater experience of managing schools and be paid, removing the expectation that they act on a voluntary basis, to support schools with “significant need”.

The NLG programme was launched in 2012, but since that time “there have been significant changes in the school system and the demands on governors and trustees”, today’s report says.

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Related: ‘Academy trusts need a new standard of governance’

Background: ‘School leaders need to do their homework on governance’

The report states: “Effective governance is key to sustained school improvement and we, therefore, recommend that, in future, NLGs provide expert support to schools and trusts where there is an identified weakness in organisational governance.

“The role of NLGs should be to review the quality of governance across the trust or standalone school, diagnose the underlying problems and provide ongoing support to improve governance. NLGs would support schools and trusts to build capacity at all levels of governance. For trusts, this would include at academy level, often called local governing bodies

“To identify schools and trusts eligible for funded access to NLG support, the DfE should consider educational and financial performance measures, as well as instances where there is a serious breakdown in the way the school or trust is governed, or where the safety of pupils or staff at the school or trust is threatened.”

The report adds that experienced clerks and non-chairs should be eligible for the role, with new NLG standards introduced to “define the expertise required”.

And the advisory group also says that all NLGs must have experience in governing more than one organisation, with at least one of these being a school or academy trust.

It adds that those with an “established strong track record” should not be prohibited from becoming an NLG.

Currently, NLGs must be chairs of schools with high pupil performance levels, but the advisory group calls for  “chairs with experience of leading improvement, whose current governance role may not be in a school or trust with strong performance” to be eligible to become an NLG.