Shortly after becoming a headteacher of a secondary school, I had the opportunity to be a governor of a local primary school.
While it could have been a case of overloading myself, it turned out to be one of the best professional learning experiences I have had, and I would recommend becoming a governor of a different school to any senior leader.
Here are some of the key insights I learned that have helped me to improve my own school’s governance and school operations.
1. Preparation for meetings
As a governor, I soon learned that a lot of the meetings involved sitting through presentations that could have been shared beforehand, meaning that the meeting could have been spent discussing details - a much better use of time.
As such, in my school I made a clear effort to get as much information as possible to our governors ahead of time so they had a chance to digest it, knowing that this would pay off with better discussions and a shorter meeting - something that benefits everyone.
2. Useful data
When working with my own governors, I had thought that giving them pages and pages of data on all manner of areas - from how students were progressing to financial insights - was helpful.
Yet when I received this myself as governor, I realised that, even as someone who is literate in school data, it was overwhelming and unhelpful.
Short summaries and concise commentaries are much more useful on both sides of the table. Therefore, this was something I suggested we do - and implemented for my own governors’ meetings, which they all appreciated.
3. Celebrating success
Given the above, I also realised that often the data and insights being shared with governors were not appreciated for the impact they showed. It was helpful to make clear that what was being presented was worth celebrating.
Through this I realised that in our own setting we took for granted what were actually impressive outcomes, and so I resolved to be better at celebrating this with both our governors and wider school community.
“Support and challenge” are often-used watchwords of good governance. Challenging a school to celebrate their achievements should be part of that.
4. Involving others
The school where I was a governor did a good job of bringing in other leaders from around the school to share insights: curriculum updates, new initiatives, extracurricular developments and so forth all helped us to really get to know and build a connection with the school.
This was something I made a point of doing afterwards at my school, which staff appreciated as the requirement on their time was minimal - usually once a year at most - but they felt their involvement in the school’s development was being recognised.
5. Getting a real feel for the school
The first time I was invited to a governor morning at school I wasn’t sure what to expect - but by the end of the day I had resolved to introduce them in my school, too.
They are a valuable way of meeting colleagues, talking to students and getting “under the bonnet” of the school and seeing it at work. Daytime meetings also bring the school to life in a way that is helpful for governors, rather than them seeing sleeping buildings at the end of the day.
6. Unofficial shadowing
Being a head is increasingly demanding - and chances for our professional growth and learning are not easy to come by. As such, the opportunity to watch another head at work was an invaluable - seeing how they dealt with tricky situations and devised strategy. Similarly, I was able to offer insights to them from my own headteacher experience.
It was almost an unofficial mentoring and job shadowing - in both directions. While it’s not the primary aim of governorship - the phrase “eyes on, hands off” remains key - the chance to engage with someone operating in the same role and learn from each other is never a bad thing.
Chris Woolf is senior international director at Wellington College
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