School governors are the largest volunteer workforce nationally with over 300,000 school governors in England.
The governing body carries out its functions with the aim of taking a largely strategic role in the running of the school. This includes:
- setting up a strategic framework for the school
- setting aims and objectives for the school
- agreeing policies and targets for achieving the objectives
- reviewing progress and reviewing the strategic framework in the light of progress
- ensuring accountability to stakeholders
School governors are members of their school’s governing body which is a “corporate body”. A corporate body has a legal identity that is separate from its members and as a result, individual governors are generally protected from personal liability as a result of the governing body’s decisions and actions, provided they act honestly, reasonably and in good faith.
Individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of the governing body except where the whole governing body has delegated a specific function to that individual or where regulations specify that a function is to be exercised in a particular way.
School governors are drawn from different parts of the community, such as parents, the Staff, the Local Authority, the Community and other groups. This helps to ensure that the governing body has sufficient diversity of views and experience but does not mean that governors of a particular category “represent” that group on the governing body. For example, Parent Governors do not act as a representative of the parents at the school and do not report back to them.
Responsibilities
The governing body has a range of duties and powers and a general responsibility for the conduct of the school with a view to promoting high standards of educational achievement.
The governing body has considerable discretion as to how to discharge its responsibilities but is required to constitute itself in line with the regulations and to appoint a chair and vice chair.