WORKLOAD, teacher absence, pupil exclusions, conflict - the key issues raised by 7,000-plus callers to Governorline have a familiar ring. The helpline for English governors, now in its second year, offers another source of information on the concerns of the nation’s biggest voluntary group.

Its first annual report also highlights the passion governors have for their schools, and their determination not to merely rubber-stamp decisions made elsewhere.

First, the figures. The helpline started work in January 2001, with advisers geared up to expect around 5,000 calls. Instead, they received more than 7,000, and early indications are that the call rate has been maintained in the current year.

Callers came from a representative spread of primary, secondary and special schools. Most (40 per cent) were chairs of governing bodies, followed by parent governors and clerks. However, there was a slight north-south divide, with fewer callers hailing from the north.

Second, the issues. The largest number of calls (2,500) was about governors’ roles and responsibilities - where they should draw the line in their relationships with other governors, heads, teachers and local education authorities.

Parent representatives, for example, “frequently mention the need for and difficulties of establishing clear demarcation between being a parent and their governor responsibilities. Clarification is also frequently sought on the role of the headteacher in dealing with matters of conflict and the school’s internal procedures.”

The Teacher Support Network, which runs Governorline and its sister helpline for teachers, notes: “Generally callers want advice on where the responsibility of a school governor begins and ends in each matter. The advisers have indicated that many callers are aware of the correct procedure to take but often lack confidence and are seeking clarification and reassurance.”

Teachers and staffing were responsible for the next largest number of calls (1,500), with queries about appointments, discipline, grievance, competence and redundancy.

There were more calls (1,100) asking for information about government papers and other publications than seeking advice about managing and running a school.

Concerns about pupils and parents spurred relatively few to the phone lines; only 400 and 120 respectively, covering issues ranging from exclusion and behaviour to violence and complaints.

From these calls, the helpline’s advisers - all governors - have highlighted four key areas of concern: workload, conflict, teacher absence and pupil exclusions.

Workload divides governors. They complain about the ever-increasing burdens arising from government initiatives, but are reluctant to give up key tasks and become rubber-stampers, says the Teacher Support Network.

The pressure is magnified at crunch times, such as during school inspections or teacher shortages. And the burden of other jobs not technically in governors’ remits, such as attending parents’ evenings and sports days, tends to fall on a small cadre of active members, often parents or those not working. Chairs are also proving hard to recruit because of the extra work the post involves, callers said.

Conflict, often over where responsibilities lie, is also an issue. Relationships with the head can break down over performance management, and with local education authorities over their lack of support for governors dealing with staff discipline matters. The Governorline report notes most LEA-governor relationships are positive, but that callers resent local authorities’ intrusions on their remit.

“There have been a number of calls where governors have felt that their LEA has shown unwelcome pressure in recruitment and appointment of a head, or where an LEA has requested that a person be suspended but not provided sufficient information to the governing body to explain why.”

Governors feel disempowered because well-informed LEAs blind them with the rule book and regulations, and they have no independent way of verifying their position.

Long-term teacher absence or on-going recruitment problems also leave governors worried, particularly about the impact on the quality of education received by pupils, school performance in national tests and inspections. They are also aware that recruitment problems or long-term, stress-related absences may indicate underlying problems.

“Governors have cited instances where the head and colleagues within the staff contingent are not working together well or where perceived bullying within the leadership team is having negative repercussions,” notes the report.

And pupil exclusions are a “sensitive and difficult area for many governing bodies”. Members are particularly dismayed at having to explain to staff why disruptive pupils have been sent back to school by independent appeal panels.

See www.governorline.info for copies of the report.Helpline 08000 722181