Government accused of taking ‘selfless’ school governors for granted

The Government has been accused of taking “selfless” school governors for granted following its decision to end funding for a recruitment service.

Funding from the Department for Education (DfE) for the Inspiring Governance programme – which provides support to schools for governor recruitment – will come to an end on September 30.

In a letter to the Education Secretary, leaders of the National Governance Association (NGA) accused the Government of overlooking governors’ contribution, which they said was “nothing short of a disgrace”.

Emma Knights and Emma Balchin, co-chief executives of the NGA, said the Government’s withdrawal of funding for the service is likely to make the recruitment and retention of school governors “worse”.

In an open letter to Gillian Keegan, they said: “You as a Government are no longer supporting in any way this enormous band of selfless people governing our schools and trusts.

“This has never happened before during NGA’s existence. You are taking them for granted.

“NGA will of course continue to support governing boards, but the fact that your Government seems willing to overlook their contribution is nothing short of a disgrace.”

Charity Education and Employers, which runs Inspiring Governance, said the service has been funded by the DfE since 2016 and it has helped to appoint more than 8,300 volunteers to school governing boards.

In a statement on Wednesday, the charity said: “From October this could be the first time in 25 years that there is no funded support for schools to recruit diverse, skilled governors from business.”

Dominic Judge, deputy chief executive of Education and Employers, said the charity is “sad” there will be no further funding from the DfE to deliver the service beyond September 30.

He said: “We will continue to make the case for sustained DfE support to schools and academies to help them recruit skilled governors as they really are such a critical component of an effective, functioning school system.

“Over the next six months we will do everything we can to work with recruiters to place the many skilled, diverse volunteers already signed up with us.”

Ms Balchin, co-chief executive of the NGA, said: “The decision to abandon funding for school governance is deeply concerning and sets a troubling precedent for the future.

“Governance is pivotal in upholding standards and driving improvement within our education system.

“Without adequate financial support to support sustainable recruitment of volunteers, governors’ and trustees’ ability to fulfil their responsibilities effectively is jeopardised.”

James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the school leaders’ union the NAHT, said: “Teachers and leaders will be extremely concerned by the Government’s decision to end funding for the governor recruitment service.

“Recruiting new governors and trustees was already a major challenge so it makes no sense at all to abandon one of the few initiatives aimed at increasing numbers.”

A DfE spokesperson: “We wish to thank Inspiring Governance for introducing many skilled and diverse governors to our schools and trusts.

“We recognise the important role that thousands of governors and trustees play in raising standards in schools and improving outcomes for children and will continue to champion the brilliant work that these volunteers do to make a meaningful difference for the children in their communities.

“We have recently published new governance guidance to support governors and trustees, making it more attractive to volunteer.”