Concerns have been raised about the lack of youth and diversity among school governance volunteers in a new report, which warns that vacancies are at the highest level recorded in six years.
According to the School and trust governance in 2022 report, released by the National Governance Association (NGA) today, vacancies on boards are at the highest level since 2016.
And for the first time since its survey started 12 years ago, more than half of volunteers (51 per cent) are 60 years old or older.
Indeed, 53 per cent of active volunteers have been involved in school governance for more than eight years.
The report also highlights the ongoing challenge of improving diversity among governing boards.
It reveals just 6 per cent of governors and trustees are from black, Asian or minority-ethnic backgrounds, compared to 94 per cent who are white.
The report says that, as such, the governance community does not reflect national data for pupil, staff, teacher, headteacher and general population ethnic diversity.
It adds: “With a statistically insignificant rise of 0.8 per cent from last year, the figures demonstrate that there is very little movement towards boards becoming more ethnically diverse and truly reflecting their schools and local communities.”
In a foreword to the report, the NGA’s chief executive Emma Knights said: “Every year, we report that the data shows we have not yet been successful in increasing the overall percentage of black, Asian and minority-ethnic governors and trustees.
“And every year I make pledges for further action and hope that the following year will be the breakthrough year.
“Disappointingly, 2022 is no different. But there are green shoots for the future; those recruited in the last two years do have a significantly different ethnic profile.
“Also, black, Asian and ethnic-minority volunteers are very much under-represented in board leadership roles but are more likely than their white colleagues to consider putting themselves forward to chair in future.”
On the age of volunteers, the survey data suggests part of the problem is recruiting younger volunteers who are able to give up spare time for the role.
From this year’s polling, over a quarter (28 per cent) of respondents under 60 say the expectations from the unpaid role are not manageable given their personal and professional commitments.
The number of governors and trustees under 40 has shrunk to its lowest level on record, halving over the past five years to 6 per cent, with those under 30 years old accounting for just 1 per cent, compared to 2 per cent who are over 80.
The NGA adds: “This means that the vast majority of the volunteers who are contributing to the decisions made by boards do not have recent experience of the education system or of what it is like to be a young person in today’s world.”
The report estimates that “at least 20,000” governors and trustees are “still needed each year” to fill vacancies - an issue the organisation says is “too important an issue for the Department for Education to postpone any further”.
It says that the number of vacancies on governing boards is at its highest since NGA started recording them in this way in 2016.
It found that 38 per cent of respondents reported that their governing board has two or more vacancies.
Special schools are seen to be the most affected, with 42 per cent having two or more vacancies.
But the NGA dismisses the idea of paying volunteer governors or trustees, saying in the report: “Paying for oversight of this vital public service would be so much more expensive, would bring questions of motivation and could probably not provide the legitimacy that committed citizens do.”
The report also shows that, while over half (51 per cent) of boards conducted a governance review this year, an all-time high, 41 per cent were internally conducted.
Just 8 per cent were externally reviewed, dropping from 13-14 per cent in 2014-2016, and well under the NGA’s desired target of 33 per cent.
The NGA is publishing modules about equality, diversity and inclusion for governing boards - developed in partnership with the Association of School and College Leaders.
The NGA said the latest module includes a guide to succession planning, which aims to help governing boards, in all types of school structures, find their next chair and reduce the risk to governance, or a chair stepping down without a successor in place.
The School and trust governance in 2022 report received feedback from 4,185 respondents who currently served as either a governor or trustee of a state-funded school.
