Guest Lecturer #2

Unfortunately I missed the second of the guest lecturers so I need to get some notes before I write up about that so technically this is guest lecturer number 3.
The lecturer Steve Gullick came to talk to us during our lecture slot on the 20th of January, the 5th of february and for the seminar also on the 5th.

Lecture 1

In the first of our lectures we were introduced to the role of the governing body. These roles are to conduct the school with the view of achieving his standards of education, setting appropriate school targets which are then sent to local authorities and to take general responsibility for the conduct of the school, such as whether or not pupils wear uniform, the start and end times etc. The governors are also responsible for managing the schools budget, ensuring the school curriculum is balanced and that the National Curriculum and Religious Education is taught, determining the staff complement and pay policy for the school, participating in the appointment of the headteacher and the deputy head and other staff, as well as regulating staff conduct and discipline and finally drawing up a plan of action after an inspection.

During the first lecture we also discussed who makes up the governing body of a school. These are a parent, LEA (local education authority), a teacher, staff - not a teacher but still work within the school, a member of the community and the Head. The Headteacher does have the option on whether or not they become a governor of the school. When appointed the Head is automatically a governor but can resign if they wish to. Within Wales pupils can be governors of the school in year 11 +.

We also considered whether or not a governor should be a stakeholder or an expert. There were pros and cons for each. A stakeholder or the school would care about the schools well-being and be in it for the children. However, governors have to make many important decisions and without any experience is it really fair to expect someone who is not an expert to make major decisions.

Another consideration was whether or not governors should be paid. A governor gives up a lot of spare time, as well as occasionally taking time off work to attend things such as interviews. They make a lot of important decisions and so perhaps they deserve to be paid for their contribution. However, the offer of payment for the role of a governor could attract the wrong type of people, who are in it to earn money rather than care about the well-being of the school.

During this lecture we were also given a typical agenda from a governors meeting. The main topics covered are matters arising, the Head teacher's report, a report from the finance committee, the progress on school development plan and a report on governor's conference.

This lecture was interesting as I'd never before had any real insight into the functions of the schools governors and I was surprised to find how important their role is in the running of the school, and how great the tasks are that they voluntarily take on.