School governors play supportive role but need more support to be able to hold leaders to account, report finds

Estyn found that often governors rely too heavily on the information provided by school leaders, particularly the progress that the school is making towards meeting their priorities. 
 
The findings show that most governors work productively with senior leaders in schools, but a majority do not challenge them sufficiently. Whilst most governors are committed and enthusiastic, they do not have a wide enough understanding of their role in ensuring high expectations in all aspects of the school’s work.
 
Owen Evans, Chief Inspector, says,

Governors can play an important role in supporting and holding a school’s senior leaders to account. Our latest thematic report shows that whilst school governors across Wales carry out aspects of their roles well, their ability to challenge senior leaders on key areas, such as educational performance, is lacking.

The role of governors in holding leaders to account is essentially about monitoring improvement. This should involve establishing clear expectations, ensuring defined lines of responsibility, putting in place systems for monitoring appropriately and ensuring that evaluation leads to actions that secure improvement.

Our findings do show some strong examples of governors challenging senior leaders effectively and helping to drive whole-school improvement – but these are in the minority. Ensuring that governors in Wales have regular and worthwhile opportunities to observe first-hand the progress that their school is making towards meeting its priorities will be key to them acting as “critical friends”.
 
Inspectors found that in the schools where challenge is strongest, governors used the information presented to them by leaders alongside their own experiences and first-hand evidence. These governors were better able to formulate questions that challenged leaders on different aspects of the school’s work. This work is particularly strong in Pembroke Dock Primary School and Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn in Denbighshire.
 
In many schools, governors say that they challenge school leaders effectively, however, in too many schools, head teachers do not agree that governors’ challenge is robust or useful. Challenge appears to be most effective when there are governors with an educational background or experienced governors who have a very good understanding of a successful school.
 
Owen Evans continues,

I value the input of headteachers, governors and other stakeholders who took part in our sample of schools across Wales. Today’s report shares some important findings and recommendations that I encourage policymakers and the education sector to take note of. The governing body of a school can play an important role in maintaining and improving standards – but there is work to do.