Part 1 - What makes a good governing body

Estyn’s Annual Report was published on 11th February – have a read here.

From a governor perspective, there have been examples of good work in Wales, with leadership and governance at Ysgol Rhydaman, Carmarthenshire being particularly strong with their self-evaluation role. However, there is a variance in Wales regarding:
– governor involvement in self-evaluation activities;
– governors ability to challenge school leaders; and
– understanding the schools’ strengths and weaknesses.

With the insights in Estyn’s annual report regarding governance and self-evaluation, we thought we would focus the next few ebulletins on the governing body’s role in self evaluation – their own, and the school self-evaluation report.

Part 1 focuses on what makes a good governing body.

For schools to perform at a high level the governing body needs to be a ‘high-performing’ team, working effectively with the school’s leadership team and other partners.

Self-evaluation is an honest and rigorous appraisal of performance based on the analysis of accurate, up-to-date information and data from a range of appropriate sources that can be used to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for improvement and threats to the school’s aspirations. This series is intended to help governors to understand their role in monitoring and reviewing performance and their contribution to the process of self-evaluation.

There are two closely linked aspects to self-evaluation for governors:
a) self-evaluation of their own performance;
b) their input into the school’s self-evaluation of its performance.

The governing body and the school senior leadership team should have a common vision or model of what ‘good’ looks like for their school. The vision will have been developed from their own combined professional experience, together with the information gathered by the leadership team to prepare the School Development Plan.

Governors should establish the priorities and targets for improvement. The priorities for school improvement should be incorporated into the School Development Plan and all targets and objectives should be SMART:
– Specific – make the objective clear and unambiguous;
– Measurable – to facilitate monitoring of progress;
– Agreed – with the person(s) expected to deliver the objective;
– Realistic – stretching, but within reach and worth trying for;
– Time-based – establishes clear expectations for when the objective will be completed.

The self-evaluation report should address the requirements of the Estyn Inspection Framework, along with feedback on the school development plan priorities.

An excellent governing body will want to know what impact its strategic leadership, values and policies are having on:
– the targets and desired outcomes designated in the School Development Plan;
– the educational character of the school;
– the role(s) that the school plays within the community it serves;
– the image that the school has amongst the wider community.

Whatever method the governing body chooses to use to evaluate its effectiveness and that of the school, it is important to be realistic and systematic. The starting point for improvement is critical self-evaluation and evidence-based judgements for governors’ to ask questions that bring about improvement – how to get from good to excellent? If self-evaluation is inaccurate or incomplete, the starting point for improving performance will be wrong and much time and resource could be wasted trying to build for success on a weak foundation.

Governing bodies should have a direct impact on all aspects of leadership and an indirect, but strong influence on the quality of teaching and learning (e.g. resourcing the learning environment, policies, decisions on curriculum, staffing, governor links with curriculum areas). The qualities of a high-performing team should be clearly evident. In addition, governing bodies should be able to demonstrate the following:

a) How they have made a difference by focusing on the attainment and achievement of pupils (including pupil participation). How they have established a clear understanding of pupil and other stakeholder (staff, parents, employers, local community, Local Authority and the Welsh Government) needs and expectations and have been able to respond appropriately. How they have developed, implemented and reviewed policies, strategies, targets and objectives. How their school has met or exceeded its targets in terms of attainment and achievement across a comprehensive range of results throughout their school.

b) How they have been able to identify and differentiate the needs and expectations of groups of pupils, parents and the community served. When things go wrong, how they have been able to respond quickly and effectively. How they have managed change to ensure continual improvement.

c) How they have provided leadership and a constancy of purpose (focusing on long-term goals) that has clearly set out their expectations and vision for their school. How they have established values, standards and a governance structure that attracts loyalty and commitment to achieving the school’s aims. How they have understood the difference between governance and management.

d) How they have understood the interdependence of systems and processes and how the school works. How they have defined the critical success factors and key processes that are vital to the success of the school. How meetings have focused on the facts and performance data. How decisions have been based on reliable information. How all major risks to performance have been identified, including budget restrictions, and plans put in pace to minimise or eliminate them.

e) How they have recruited and retained high quality teachers and support staff. How continuous professional development has been promoted and supported in order to enhance the skills and experience of staff to meet future demands. How they have ensured that the school’s staff are cared for and their efforts recognised, building a culture of respect and trust where people feel involved and empowered to implement their ideas for improvement.

f) How they have challenged the status quo and used the knowledge and understanding from internal performance reviews and that of other learning providers to innovate and create improvement opportunities. How internal and external benchmarking have been systematically used to identify more effective ways of doing things. How staff have been encouraged to look to the future and expand their own skills and experiences to raise school standards.

g) How they have built successful partnerships with, for example, other schools, employers, sectors of the community, Further Education and Higher Education Institutions, and the Local Authority, focused on delivering more value to pupils and parents and improving the school’s ability to meet stakeholder expectations.

h) How they have adopted a highly ethical approach to the school’s social responsibilities. How they have considered the environment, sustainability and the local community and how this is reflected in the values they have promoted and integrated into everything the school does.

Governing bodies should work towards becoming a highly effective team, as this is the best way for a governing body to help its school to become high performing or excellent. A critical element of a team working well is good management of meetings, and for a meeting to be purposeful and objective, you have to be clear about what you are trying to achieve, and achieve the desired outcome.
We have resources in these areas for subscribers:
– The governing body – the effective team
– How to your meetings more effective

© Governors Cymru Services

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