School leaders’ understanding of governance is “fairly awful”, a governors’ leader has claimed.
Emma Knights, the chief executive of the National Governance Association (NGA), this morning said her organisation would launch a campaign to encourage middle leaders to become governors at another school.
Speaking at the NGA’s annual conference in Birmingham, she said: “I hear nonsense being spoken in meetings, at events and even in writing, but not challenged, because no-one else in the room really knows any better.
“I find it extraordinary that in a system where knowledge is rightly being promoted, that high powered executives and policymakers, in particular, do not bother to avail themselves of basic governance knowledge.”
She added that “claiming to be a governance expert doesn’t make you one”, and warned that she has “reached the limit of my patience”.
Ms Knights told the conference: “Today I will go as far as to say that governance literacy amongst senior leaders in the schools sector is fairly awful - is that tough enough?
“I know that is a crass generalisation and there are some honourable exceptions who I hope know who they are.
“But, altogether, it is really a bit rubbish.
“That sounds horribly patronising, for which I apologise. School leaders have a tough job and most of them are former teachers: they may well be great at that all-important development of teaching and learning.
“But understanding governance is fundamental to leading an institution well.”
She said that sometimes executives do not want to accept the role of governors, and “act to thwart the governing board’s ability to do its job”.
She added that when governance is “not what it should be” the problems can sometimes lie with executives who “do not understand the relative roles and responsibilities”.
Ms Knights said the NGA is planning a campaign next year which might help to “transform” the situation.
She told the conference: “It will stress the CPD value of middle leaders governing in another school - so often I am told by those who already volunteer that it is the best CPD they have had.
“I met a headteacher recently who said she would not have been equipped to take on that job if she had not had the experience of being a chair of a governing board as a deputy.”
