- All visits should be arranged in advance between the link governor, class teacher, headteacher and, in a secondary school, the head of department. Ideally, this should be done at a pre-visit meeting as this will allow the governor and teacher to discuss what the class will be doing during the visit and any particular activities on which the governor might like to focus e.g. group work, differentiation.
- On the day of the visit, the governor should report to the headteacher and, in a secondary school, to the head of department.
- The governor should endeavour to arrive at the class at a time least likely to cause disruption.
- The teacher should introduce the governor to the class.
- Throughout the visit, the governor should intrude as little as possible on the work of the class. However, pupils, particularly younger ones, often like and respond to attention by a governor, and there is no doubt that a governor will gain a greater knowledge of their school and what it does by talking to pupils. Consequently, at an appropriate time and with the teacher’s permission the governor might speak to individual pupils about their work.
- Governors should be aware that some topics lend themselves to group or paired work and that some activities involve pupils moving around the room. Inevitably, at such times, noise levels will be higher than usual.
- At the end of the lesson or when they are leaving, the governor should thank the teacher and the class for their visit.
After the visit
- As soon as possible, and ideally on the same day, the governor and class teacher should discuss the visit to clarify any issues.
- A report of the visit should be given to the full governing body by the link governor.
- Although some governors may feel happier giving a verbal report only to the governing body it is a much better idea to produce a short written report. There are a number of reasons for this. First of all, the teacher whose class was observed should be involved in producing the report to prevent any errors or misconceptions being made. Secondly, a written report can be circulated to governors before a governing body meeting, thereby allowing them time to consider the report and reflect on any points they may wish to discuss. Finally, if there is a long time between the visit and the next governing body meeting, a governor might forget details of the visit.
- At no point in the report should any pupils be mentioned by name.
- It would be a good idea to produce the report to the governing body under a number of headings. There are a number of reasons for this. First of all a common format means that all link governor reports will focus on a number of the same things. Secondly, it will provide a framework for those governors who might be uneasy about producing a written report
- As has already been pointed out the report need not be very long and should be written with the class teacher.
- Below are listed a number of headings under which a link governor’s report might be written. The list is by no means exhaustive but it would go some way to dealing with the issues raised in the two previous points:
– Date of visit
– Name of teacher
– Age of class
– Number of pupils in class and gender balance
– Time of governor’s arrival at class
– Length of time spent with class
– Topic or area studied
– Resources used
– What happened in the lesson
– The biggest impression(s) my visit made on me
– Other observations
Obviously, the last three points are the most important for the governing body to gain an understanding of what was seen so these should make up the bulk of the report.
Monitoring and Review
Created on ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Last updated on …………………………………………………………………………………………
Adopted by Full Governing Body on ………………………………………………………………….
Scheduled review date …………………………………………………………………………………
Chair of Governor’s signature and date ……………………………………………………………..
© Governors Cymru Services
Published: 8/10/2008
