The Prevent Duty is the responsibility placed on everyone in education to stop children from being drawn into terrorism.
This page explains whether all school governors need Prevent training, where they can find courses and how often their training needs updating.
What is the Prevent Duty?
The Prevent Duty comes from the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. This law places a responsibility on a number of “specified authorities” to prevent people becoming terrorists or being radicalised into extremism.
“A specified authority must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.”
Does the Prevent Duty apply to both maintained schools and academies?
Yes. The definition of a “specified authority” in the law includes both maintained schools and academies.
Do all school governors need Prevent training?
This isn’t crystal clear, but in my view the answer is yes.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) is the statutory guidance on safeguarding that all schools must follow. It says that all governors should receive “appropriate safeguarding and child protection (including online) training at induction”.
“Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that all governors and trustees receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection (including online) training at induction.
“This training should equip them with the knowledge to provide strategic challenge to test and assure themselves that the safeguarding policies and procedures in place in schools and colleges are effective and support the delivery of a robust whole school approach to safeguarding.”
KCSIE does not mention Prevent training for governors specifically. However, it does make clear that the Prevent duty is part of the “wider safeguarding obligations” that apply to schools.
“The Prevent duty should be seen as part of schools’ and colleges’ wider safeguarding obligations.”
“This e-learning course provides an understanding of what radicalisation, extremism and terrorism are. It covers how to identify and explore concerning behaviours and how to raise concerns.”
Home Office
Governors who have never completed a Prevent course before should take the Awareness Course.
Governors who have taken a Prevent course in the past and are updating their knowledge can take the Refresher Awareness Course.
(There are two other Home Office courses available which are not applicable to governors: one on referrals for your Designated Safeguarding Lead who will be a member of staff and one on Channel panels which are not run by governors.)
The Home Office say their Prevent course should take around 30 to 40 minutes. I would allow a maximum of 30 minutes to be honest as it is quite straightforward. Their refresher course takes 20 to 30 minutes.
GovernorHub Knowledge say their Prevent training takes up to two hours.
How often does Prevent training need to be updated?
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) says that all governors/trustees should receive safeguarding training that is “regularly updated”.
“Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that all governors and trustees receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection (including online) training at induction.
KCSIE does not define the term “regularly” so I asked governance colleagues who follow my Ask A Clerk Twitter account how they would define “regularly” in this context.
Out of over 100 votes the consensus with 86% of the vote was that safeguarding training for governors should be updated annually.
Almost 10% said that training should be taken twice a year or more. Only 4% said safeguarding training should be taken every two years or every three years.
Should the clerk keep certificates of completion?
Yes, it’s a good idea to collect the certificates. Anyone who completes the Home Office or GovernorHub Knowledge Prevent duty course is given a certificate of proof.
There’s no statutory duty to keep training certificates for school governors, but for any safeguarding training I would recommend keeping hold of certificates. This is because you may be asked to show proof of attendance to OFSTED or during a safeguarding audit.
In fact the clerk may wish to keep all training certificates because it helps them compile the training record and remind governors when their training is coming up for renewal.
OFSTED held a webinar on Inspection and Governance in December 2022.
It explained the questions OFSTED will ask governors, which governors should attend the inspection and offered advice on how boards can fulfil their roles.
Below you can find the video and my summary of the most useful points made. I have also created a pdf transcript of the whole video which includes the substantive slides. This can be downloaded below and shared with colleagues.
OFSTED Inspection and Governance Webinar: Summary of Key Points
Note: The following paragraphs are direct quotes from the webinar. Wording in bold highlights points I think are particularly useful.
Understanding Governance
Inspectors will look at the school’s website as one of the first activities they do, often before they even contact a school or have spoken to the Headteacher. The information that’s available on a school’s website can really help a lead inspector understand how a school’s governance is structured.
For example if you are part of a multi-academy trust then certainly inspectors will be looking for example for the scheme of delegation, so that document that outlines what different levels of governance, if there are different levels within the trust, are responsible for.
We try to make sure that the arrangements ensure as many people come and meet with inspectors as possible. We recognise that that’s not always possible and sometimes while a face-to-face meeting is always preferable it might be that lead inspectors have to pick up the phone and speak to the Chair of Governors for example.
The other element we discuss is obviously that invitation to the wider governing body, not just those that we’ve managed to speak to throughout the course of the process but every governor can come and listen to the final feedback meeting which comes at the end of the usually two-day process.
What is effective governance?
It’s important to note that when inspectors are looking at statutory duties they’re not just checking compliance, they’re seeking to ascertain how governors ensure that the school is compliant.
For example we wouldn’t expect governors to be checking the school’s single central record of recruitment checks themselves, we’d look to see whether they’re seeking assurance from the school that they’re keeping it up-to-date and that the Designated Safeguarding Lead is carrying out their duties.
The initial notification call is made by the inspection support team. They also send a list of information that schools must make available to inspectors by eight o’clock on the first day of the inspection on site and part of this is strategic documents about the school.
So examples for maintained schools are minutes of governing body meetings. For academies, minutes of trust board meetings and any other relevant strategic documents about governance or the trust that the school may have.
Our inspectors look at the documents to triangulate how governors carry out the three core functions and their statutory duties. The documents don’t need to be in any specific format, they can be digital or paper. What I would say is time is limited, we wouldn’t want to see the last 12 copies of governing body minutes; one, two or three is quite sufficient.
Some examples of how a trustee or governor fulfils their role:
by governors addressing a range of educational issues within the school including disadvantaged pupils, pupils who’ve got special needs, staff workload and teacher recruitment (you could be asked about all of these, we could read about them in your minutes)
checking on the school’s performance, looking at data when where necessary to ask questions about standards and having challenging conversations with school leaders about the school. Just because OFSTED doesn’t look at internal data doesn’t mean that governors shouldn’t be looking at it. Governors need to review performance data in key areas to ensure that they have an oversight of the school
governors need to engage with pupils, staff, parents and the school community.
in your governance meetings think about the information you access, what is it telling you and what else do you need to understand about what is going on in your school.
Meeting Governors On Inspection
We will encourage the school to invite as many governors or trustees as possible to meet inspectors during the inspection. We like to meet governors as part of a group but again we’ll be flexible according to governor availability.
What inspectors are doing, we’re wanting to explore how governors carry out the individual functions, sowe might be asking questions such as:
how do you ensure that the core functions of governance are carried out effectively in your school?
what is your strategic vision for your school?
how do you hold executive leaders to account?
how do you ensure that this school complies with its statutory duties?
So we’re wanting to know how governors ensure that the right things happen. We’re wanting to know about those processes that are in place, how you know what’s working well in your school.
It’s worth us saying that the single central record is part of the statutory duties and when it comes to those statutory duties we expect governors to perform a strategic function not an operational one.
So the governors’ duty is to make sure that the processes are happening and that the school is fulfilling its duties, but it’s not the governors’ role to actively maintain a single central record for themselves. Governors need to assure themselves that it is being kept up-to-date and it is compliant, but they are not the ones responsible for actually doing so.
For example governors might assure themselves that these things are happening by regularly talking to leaders about the processes they go through and how leaders themselves ensure that the records are up-to-date. It’s the strategic level that governors are responsible for.
Questions From Viewers
What are the key documents governors need to look at to prepare for inspection?
We do not expect anybody no matter what role you play within your school to produce something solely for OFSTED. So please don’t have reams of documentation in files that sit on a shelf and often gather dust just waiting for that time when an inspector might call.
Because actually we want to know what do you find most useful as governors, what is it that you use day to day, week to week to support you in your role in holding leaders in school to account.
Something that is a really effective bit of evidence is the Headteacher’s report to governors, because governors you’re in charge of that and what goes into that so that’s a really good bit of evidence for us to have a look at, it’s got lots of information in.
Then we see the questions in the minutes that you’ve asked of the Headteacher and senior leaders, really effective.
In terms of the role of a governor in an inspection it’s essentially one meeting you’re requested to attend, a 30- to 40-minute meeting which is a discussion. So the inspector will be coming with questions that they want to ask in terms of what they’ve seen around the school, what they’ve already spoken to leaders about.
They’ll be coming with that list of the three key functions and the effectiveness of governance and it is essentially a conversation about exploring all of those elements with you. Other than that there isn’t other than attending feedback if you can make it and the option is always there, there isn’t anything else that you need to do as a governor or a governing body.
We look at minutes, but that’s just to get a sense of what you’ve discussed previously and if inspectors have managed to look at those minutes before they meet with you then you can expect some questions around, oh it was interesting that I noticed that in your last meeting you challenge the Headteacher about…can you just tell me a little bit more about why you did that, what’s happened as a result.
It’s preparing for that conversation and being confident that you know the school as a governor, you know the priorities that the Headteacher is setting because hopefully they’ve shared and agreed them with you.
Then you can evidence the influence that you’re having in terms of why you’re asking the Headteacher a particular question, why you’re asking for a particular piece of evidence and therefore what you’ve done with that and hopefully what has come from that as an impact or as a result.
Please do not worry that you may say the wrong thing because actually it takes quite a bit of evidence to tip an inspection judgement one way or the other.
Academy trusts must ensure they do not have too many local authority associated persons (LAAPs) among their trustees and members.
The limit on LAAPs is set at 19.9% of trustees and 19.9% of members. There are also additional limits on voting rights which I will explain later.
This page explains who qualifies as an LA-associated person, how many LAAPs each academy trust is allowed to have among its members and trustees and what happens if that limit is exceeded.
This article only applies to academies because LAAPs do not exist in maintained schools.
The section is called Avoiding Influenced Company Status. An “influenced company” is one where the LA holds significant power or control and academy trusts are not-for-profit companies.
Check the last few pages of your own articles to find the relevant part. There are three basic rules:
no more than 19.9% of trustees can be LAAPs
no more than 19.9% of members can be LAAPs
LAAPs cannot hold more than 19.9% of voting rights at any meeting of trustees or members.
So LA-associated persons must never make up one-fifth or more of your trustees or one-fifth or more of your members.
The articles also say that LAAPs who are trustees or members must hold less than 20% of the voting rights at any meeting. In practice, as long as you limit the number of trustees/members to less than 20% of the total people in post you should not have to worry about the voting rights limit.
Technically it would be possible to hold a members’ meeting where, for example, only five out of seven members attend and one of the attendees is a LAAP, giving them voting rights of 20%, but that seems fairly unlikely.
It would be even less likely in a meeting of trustees because you will usually have significantly more trustees than members in place.
Who qualifies as an LA-associated person?
A trustee or member is an LA-associated person if any of the following apply:
they are currently a councillor
they have been a councillor in the last four years
they are currently employed by the LA
they are both an employee and either a director, manager, secretary or similar officer of a company controlled by the LA.
To see where that definition comes from we first need to check the model articles of association. At the start of the articles is a section called “Interpretation” which contains definitions for terms used in the articles. Below is the definition given for a LAAP.
“‘Local Authority Associated Person’ means any person associated (within the meaning given in section 69(5) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989) with any local authority by which the academy trust is influenced.”
Section 69(5) explains that someone is a LAAP if they:
are a member of the local authority (a “member” means a councillor)
have been a member within the last four years
are an officer of the authority (an “officer” means an employee)
are both an employee and either a director, manager, secretary or other similar employee of a company which is under the control of the authority.
“For the purposes of this section, a person is at any time associated with a local authority if—
(a) he is at that time a member of the authority;
(b) he is at that time an officer of the authority;
(c) he is at that time both an employee and either a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of a company which is under the control of the authority; or
(d) at any time within the preceding four years he has been associated with the authority by virtue of paragraph (a) above.”
No. Only members and trustees can be LAAPs. If someone is a local governor in a multi-academy trust they cannot qualify as a LAAP. They also cannot qualify as a LAAP if they sit on any other academy committee but are not a trustee.
It may seem odd that the DfE places no limits on local governor LAAPs in their model articles, as you could in theory have a local governing body stuffed to the brim with LAAPs but a 19.9% limit at trustee and member level.
However, I assume the reasoning is that the trustees and members hold the real power in each trust. The local governors only hold powers that have been delegated down to them.
What counts as a local authority?
The definition of a local authority is found in section 67 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. It is a very wide definition so check the Act to see the full list, but it includes:
county councils
county borough councils
district councils
London borough councils
parish councils
community councils
fire and rescue authorities
policy authorities.
What if someone is associated with an LA that is not close to the academy?
They still qualify as an LA-associated person, whether or not the LA they are associated with is geographically close to the academy trust. The definition of a LAAP in the model articles refers to any person associated with any local authority by which the trust is influenced.
For example, if a trustee at an academy in London is also employed by Devon county council they are still considered a LAAP.
Do LA-associated persons need permission from the LA to join the board?
The current model articles say that any trustee joining the board needs permission from the LA they are linked to. They do not say that someone who is joining your trust as a member needs permission from the LA. (Check your own articles to confirm this.)
“No person who is a local authority associated person is eligible to be appointed or elected to the office of trustee unless their appointment or election to such office is authorised by the local authority to which they are associated.”
Yes. The rules on LAAPs apply equally to both appointed and elected trustees, so a parent trustee elected by the parent body could be a LAAP, as could a staff trustee elected by members of staff.
Do school employees count as LAAPS?
If they are employed by a maintained school then yes, they count as a LAAP. If they are employed by an academy trust then no, they are not a LAAP.
Example Calculations
Remember that 19.9% is the maximum number of LA-associated persons allowed among your members and the same limit is placed on your trustees. Here are the calculations of how many LA-associated persons an academy trust can have.
Member Calculations
A trust with five members or fewer cannot have any LAAP members, because you would immediately breach the 19.9% limit. Just one LAAP member would make up 20% (or more) of members by themselves.
A trust with six to 10 members could have only one LAAP member, who would form between 16.6% to 10% of the total members.
Trustee Calculations
A trust with five trustees or fewer cannot have any LAAP trustees (but in reality all academy trusts will have more trustees than this).
A trust with six to 10 trustees could have only one LAAP trustee, who would form between 16.6% to 10% of the total trustees.
A trust with 11 to 15 trustees could have only two LAAP trustees (18% to 13%).
A trust with 16 to 20 trustees could have only three LAAP trustees (18.75% to 15%).
What happens if a member or trustee becomes a LAAP during their term of office?
The model articles say that if a member or trustee becomes a LAAP during their term of office, for example they get a job working for the council, they are “deemed to have immediately resigned”.
In other words, they immediately stop being a member or trustee and have no choice in the matter. Notice that in this clause it doesn’t matter whether your new LA-associated person takes you over the 19.9% limit or not; they are deemed to have resigned either way.
“If at the time of either their becoming a member of the academy trust or their first appointment or election to office as a trustee any member or trustee was not a local authority associated person but later becomes so during their membership or tenure as a trustee they shall be deemed to have immediately resigned their membership and/or resigned from their office as a trustee as the case may be.”
Only if they meet the definition of a LAAP described above, for example they are employed by the LA. They are not an LA-associated person just because they are an LA trustee.
Current model articles of association don’t contain the role of LA trustee, but some academy trusts will have LA trustee vacancies in their articles, particularly if their articles have not been updated in many years.
These LA trustees may be either nominated or appointed by the LA but beyond that they do not have any links with the LA or vote on behalf of the LA. Once they are on the board they function in the same way as any other trustee.
What happens if we have too many LAAPs in post?
The articles of association have been written so that it is not possible to accidentally appoint or elect too many LAAPs. The wording says that the extra trustees or members who are LAAPs are “deemed to have resigned immediately before” their appointment or election.
In effect, therefore, the extra LAAPs never joined your academy trust at all, so it’s not possible to accidentally breach the limit.
“If at any time the number of trustees or members who are also local authority associated persons would (but for articles 139 to 142 inclusive) represent 20% or more of the total number of trustees or members (as the case may be) then a sufficient number of the trustees or members (as the case may be) who are local authority associated persons shall be deemed to have resigned as trustees or members immediately before the occurrence of such an event.”
The model articles also explain what would happen in the unlikely event that two LAAPs have recently been elected or appointed but only one needs to resign to keep the academy trust under the 19.9% limit – the person who has joined the trust most recently must leave.
“Trustees or members (as the case may be) who are local authority associated persons shall be deemed to have resigned in order of their appointment or election date the most recently appointed or elected resigning first.”
Why is it important to limit the numbers of LA-associated people?
If an academy trust has too many LA-associated people it becomes an influenced company. The law places a number of restrictions and burdens on influenced companies that influenced academy trusts would have to fulfil.
In the majority of cases governor positions cannot be shared, so you must have one person filling one vacancy. The only exception to this is when you have co-headteachers in a job share, who both share the role of headteacher governor.
In all other cases the rule is one vacancy, one volunteer. So if you have one parent governor vacancy, for example, you can only fill it with one parent rather than two people sharing the position. It’s not possible to serve as half a governor!
People sometimes ask to share governor positions so they can reduce the amount of time spent volunteering but unfortunately this is not possible.
What happens if we have a co-headteacher?
This is the only exception to the rule that governor positions cannot be shared. If you have two co-heads they will share the one position of headteacher governor.
They will have one vote between them so will have to decide who can cast that vote at meetings, or perhaps decide to alternate using the vote. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem as you would hope the co-heads will agree on most issues!
It may sound unfair that the co-heads don’t get a vote each, but each school only has one headteacher governor position on its board (or one chief executive officer/principal position in academy trusts) so there is only one vote allocated to the head.
If both co-heads were given a vote each it would double the power of the headteacher governor position for no reason other than a job share is in place.
Assuming the co-heads would agree on most votes this would just add an extra vote in favour of the headteacher viewpoint each time. This would be problematic because one of the core functions of the governing body is to hold the head(s) to account.
Can link governor roles be shared?
Yes. Link governor rolescan be shared, so you could have two link governors for SEND for example. They would need to agree how to share the work between them, perhaps using written terms of reference to record this.
It’s up to the governing body to decide how it distributes its work between all the link governors and committees, so it’s free to decide that there will be two link governors for a particular area and just one for another.
Can the role of chair of governors be shared?
Yes. Both the chair and vice-chair roles can be shared. It’s uncommon for the vice-chair role to be held jointly but fairly common for schools to have joint chairs. You could also have joint chairs or vice-chairs of committees.
Why can link roles and the chair be shared when governor positions cannot be?
When governors carry out link roles or chairing they are sharing out work that must be completed by the governing body as a whole. There are no rules that say the chair must be one person only or that link roles must be carried out by individuals. The governing body itself controls how the work gets done.
However, when a person joins the governing body they must fill a vacancy that exists in either a maintained school’s instrument of government, an academy trust’s articles of association (for the board of trustees) or an academy’s terms of reference (for local governing bodies).
These documents list the total number of governor positions available. A maintained school’s instrument of government might say for example that the board will consist of two parent governors, one LA governor, one staff governor, one headteacher governor and five co-opted governors.
The instrument will also list the total number of governors the school can have, so in the example in the previous paragraph the school’s instrument would say “the total number of governors shall be 10”.
If the school tried to allocate two people to the LA governor position that would not match the “one LA governor” that is set out in their instrument, nor the total number of governors they are allowed, because they would now have 11 governors rather than 10.
Even if the legal documents allowed for shared positions it would be very difficult in practice. If a governor only came to every other meeting they would miss a huge amount of information. If they came to all meetings and tried to cut down on school visits they would miss learning first-hand about the school.
The people sharing the position would also have to agree on how to cast their one vote each time. It’s likely that co-heads will agree most of the time but much less likely that two parent or LA governors will always agree.
Finally, even with just one vote between two people you could argue that they would still have more power over the board than a single person, because there would be two different voices to be heard and exert influence.
Every maintained school must have a local authority (LA) governor and some academies have LA trustees.
This page explains how LA governors and trustees are appointed, how they can be removed and whether LA governors have to report back to the local authority or vote on their behalf.
LA Governors In Maintained Schools
There is only ever one LA governor in a maintained school.
“The governing body of a maintained school must include the following…one local authority governor.”
In maintained schools LA governors must be nominated by the local authority but appointed by the governing body (via a majority vote at a quorate full governing body meeting).
This means of course that local authority governors can only join the governing body if both the LA and the governing body approve of them.
When making the appointment the governing body must consider whether the candidate has the required skills. The governing body can set any eligibility criteria they wish. For example, they could specify that they need someone with experience of finance or previous governance experience.
“In these Regulations “local authority governor” means a person who—
(a) is nominated by the local authority; and
(b) is appointed by the governing body as a governor having, in the opinion of the governing body, the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school and having met any additional eligibility criteria set by the governing body.”
The exact procedure for finding and nominating LA governors will differ according to your region.
In my area the local authority are happy to consider candidates suggested by the school itself. If an LA governor vacancy arises I contact governor services and either ask if they will nominate a candidate the school have found or ask if they know someone suitable.
In other areas the local authority may already have a set list of potential candidates and may not accept suggestions from schools. The governor services department will be able to advise you of the process.
What happens if the school and LA disagree?
The governing body can reject anyone the local authority have nominated, so legally maintained schools have the right to reject every candidate suggested to them.
In practice, statutory guidance says that the local authority should be flexible and make “every effort” to understand the board’s requirements and nominate someone suitable. This places the onus on the local authority to compromise if there is a disagreement about the suitability of a candidate.
“Local authorities should therefore make every effort to understand the governing body’s requirements and identify and nominate suitable candidates.”
LA governors in maintained schools can only be removed by the local authority, not by the governing body. This is a slight anomaly in the law because it means the governing body has the power to appoint the LA governor, but not to remove them.
“Any local authority governor may be removed from office by the local authority who nominated the local authority governor.”
If the board want to have an LA governor removed they should tell the local authority why they feel this is necessary. If the local authority refuse to remove them the only power the board could use is to suspend the governor, which would prevent them from attending meetings for a fixed period.
Can LA governors be reappointed?
Yes, the governing body can vote to reappoint the LA governor at the end of their term of office, but note that the local authority will need to renominate the governor first.
It’s unlikely that the local authority will refuse to endorse someone they already nominated a few years ago, but you do need to check they are still in favour. If the LA renominate the governor they need to be appointed at a quorate meeting of your full board.
LA governors have the standard four-year term of office by default, but check your instrument of government to see whether your school has changed the term length for any governor.
Can school employees or parents be the LA governor?
School employees cannot be the LA governor in a maintained school if they would qualify to be a staff governor. This means they cannot be the LA governor if they are employed by the school or local authority under a contract.
“A person is disqualified from appointment as a local authority governor if the person is eligible to be a staff governor of the school.”
Do LA governors lobby on behalf of the local authority?
No. LA governors are not on the governing body to fight for whatever the local authority want or to be “on the side” of the authority. They have exactly the same mission as any other governor, which is to serve the school.
If there is a disagreement between the governing body and the local authority then the LA governor must vote in the best interests of the school as a whole, not vote in favour of whatever the local authority would prefer.
“In exercising their functions the governing body shall…act with integrity, objectivity and honesty and in the best interests of the school.”
Do LA governors report back to the local authority?
No. Local authorities have the right to read minutes of the governing body of course, but it is not the role of the LA governor to keep the local authority informed of the board’s business.
I have seen some guidance that describes the LA governor as being a “link” between the school and the local authority. This is true in one sense, because the authority does nominate the LA governor candidate, but it’s also confusing because it sounds like the LA governor should report back to the local authority or even take orders from the authority.
This is not the case. The LA governor has no allegiance to the local authority and does not act as a line of communication between the board and the authority.
Are LA governors political appointments?
No. Local authorities are not allowed to only nominate people who share the political views of whichever political party controls that authority.
“A local authority governor, like any other governor, must govern in the interests of the school and not advocate the interests of the local authority.”
It would be possible for a local councillor to become an LA governor, but it would not be acceptable for the local authority to only nominate those councillors who came from the party in power. There is certainly no rule that says the LA governor must be a councillor.
LA Trustees in Academies
Some academies have an LA trustee, particularly those using older articles of association, but many do not. The current DfE model articles do not include an LA trustee.
I looked at a variety of articles from different trusts that include LA trustees. In the articles I saw the LA trustee was appointed by the local authority alone, so the board of trustees had no say in the appointment.
The articles I saw also contained the standard clause that any trustee (except a parent trustee) can be removed by the “person or persons who appointed him”, which would be the local authority in this case.
However, in academy trusts the members have the right to remove any trustee under the Companies Act 2006, so the members also have the power to remove the LA trustee if they wish.
You must check your own articles though to see the specific rules for your trust.
Are LA-associated persons the same as LA governors?
No. Articles of association for academy trusts contain a rule that no more than 19.9% of the voting rights of trustees can be held by “LA-associated persons”, known as LAAPs.
Any trustee could be an LA-associated person. If you have an LA trustee they may or may not also be an LA-associated person.
The definition of an LAAP is found in this law, which explains that a person qualifies as an LAAP if they:
are currently an elected member of a local authority (eg: a councillor)
have been an elected member of a local authority in the past four years
currently work for a local authority
are both an employee and either a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of a company which is under the control of the authority.
If someone meets the definition of an LA-associated person they can only be appointed or elected to the board with the permission of the relevant local authority.
This is a glossary of common acronyms and terms used in school governance produced from an older glossary that the DfE used to provide.
As with all resources on Ask A Clerk please share this free glossary with your governance colleagues to help others understand the jargon!
A
Academies – state-funded schools that are independent from the local authority.
Academy Trust Handbook (ATH) – a document that sets out the financial requirements and other controls for all academies. Used to be called the Academies Financial Handbook (AFH).
Admission authority – the body that decides which children can join the school. Local authorities are admission authorities with responsibility for admissions to community and voluntary-controlled schools. In the case of an academy, foundation or voluntary-aided school the governing body is the admission authority.
Age-weighted pupil unit (AWPU) – the rate local authorities set to allocate basic funding per pupil in mainstream schools.
Agreed syllabus – a syllabus of religious education that is not specific to one religion, adopted by an LA for teaching in community and controlled schools.
Analyse school performance (ASP) – an online source of school data provided by the DfE.
Annual general meeting (AGM) – academy trust members are often required to hold an annual general meeting where they receive the accounts and appoint auditors.
Appraisal – the process of assessing how well a member of staff is carrying out his or her job.
Articles of association (AoA) – in academy trusts the articles explain the rights and responsibilities of members and trustees and describe how each person is elected or appointed.
Assistant headteacher (AHT) – a senior leader who sits below the deputy headteacher in the staffing structure.
Associate member – a person who is appointed by the governing body of a maintained school as a member of a committee established by it, but who is not a governor. (Some academies also have individuals on their committees who they call associate members to differentiate them from trustees or local governors.)
Attainment 8 – a score showing the achievement of secondary pupils by adding together their highest scores across eight qualifications.
Authorised absence – where the absence of a pupil has been agreed by the person authorised on their behalf by the proprietor of the school.
B
Ballot – a method of voting, normally secret.
Benchmarking – comparing data with other schools to identify possible areas to improve, for example by identifying areas of high spending compared to similar schools.
C
Capability procedures – procedures governing bodies are required to establish for dealing with staff who are unable to perform their job to an agreed standard.
Capital expenditure – spending on building projects and large items of equipment.
Catchment area – a defined geographical area from which a school takes its pupils.
Casting vote – an additional tie-breaking vote to be used by the chair of a meeting if an equal number of votes are cast for and against a proposal.
Census – all schools must submit census data to the DfE every term. Data collected includes the number of children receiving free school meals.
Chair of governors (COG) – the governor elected to lead the governing board. If two governors lead the board together they are called co-chairs.
Chair’s action – the ability of the chair of governors to take decisions alone in emergencies if a delay would be likely to cause harm. In maintained schools the chair of governors has this right by law; academy chairs of trustees can be given a similar right but do not have it automatically. Also known as chair’s power to act.
Chief executive officer (CEO) – in a multi-academy trust the CEO is the highest paid member of staff and the most senior leader.
Chief financial officer (CFO) – in academies the CFO is in charge of financial management. May be called the finance director.
Child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) – the NHS service that helps children and young people with mental health problems.
Child protection online management system (CPOMS) – software that helps schools monitor the safeguarding of children.
Circle model – a method of governing where the board does not run any committees, taking all decisions at the full governing board level.
Clerk to the governing body – a person appointed to carry out administrative duties for the governing body such as preparing an agenda and minuting meetings who also advises on legal and procedural matters. Sometimes known as the governance professional.
Code of conduct – many governing bodies ask governors to sign a code of conduct which describes how they expect governors to behave in areas such as confidentiality and attendance at meetings.
Collaboration – where two or more governing bodies may arrange for any of their functions to be discharged jointly by holding joint meetings and/or having joint committees.
Committee – a smaller group of governors formed from the main governing board who have delegated powers. (Some schools use the term sub-committee but the meaning is the same.)
Co-opted governor – a general category of governor for anyone who has the skills to serve on the governing body.
Community school – a state school in England and Wales that is wholly owned and maintained by the LA.
Contingency fund – money set aside for unexpected costs.
Continual professional development (CPD) – a process relevant to all staff, involving increasing staff skills, knowledge and understanding.
Core subjects – English, maths and science are the subjects that must be studied by all pupils at every key stage.
Current expenditure – spending on the day-to-day running of schools, including staff costs, heating and lighting, consumables and so on; sometimes called recurrent expenditure.
D
Data protection officer (DPO) – the person in charge of ensuring personal data is handled securely and in accordance with the general data protection regulation.
Dedicated schools grant (DSG) – the ring-fenced specific grant paid by the DfE to local authorities in support of the schools budget.
Delegation – a process where one body or person gives another body or person authority to take decisions on a particular matter.
Department for Education (DfE) – the central government department with responsibility for education.
Deputy headteacher (DHT) – the senior leader who sits below the headteacher in the staffing structure.
Designated safeguarding lead (DSL) – the senior staff member in charge of keeping children safe from harm.
Designated teacher – a qualified teacher, headteacher or acting headteacher who is appointed by the school governing body to promote the educational achievement of looked after children on the school’s roll.
Diocese – the area over which a bishop has jurisdiction.
Director – in some academy trusts the people on the main governing board are known as directors instead of trustees or governors.
Disadvantaged – pupils who are considered disadvantaged include those who receive free school meals, looked after children and and those who have been adopted after being in care.
Disapplication – the term used where parts or all of the national curriculum requirements are lifted or modified in relation to a pupil in specified cases or circumstances.
Disclosure and barring service (DBS) – the body that checks whether someone has a criminal record and/or is banned from working with children or adults.
E
Early career teacher (ECT) – the new name for a newly-qualified teacher (NQT).
Early years foundation stage (EYFS) – a statutory framework for the provision of learning, development and care for children between birth and the academic year in which they turn five.
Early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP) – each child’s level of development is assessed against the early learning goals at the end of the academic year in which they turn five.
Early years single funding formula (EYSFF) – the single local funding formula that each local authority is required to develop and implement to fund the free entitlement for three and four-year-olds in maintained nursery schools and classes, and private, voluntary and independent early years providers.
Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) – the government agency that funds education and training.
Education, health and care plan (EHCP) – these plans identify the educational, health and social needs of children and set out the additional support necessary to meet those needs. They used to be called statements of special needs.
Education welfare officer (EWO) – also known as education social workers or attendance advisers, these officers are employed by LAs to resolve problems of children and young people regularly missing school.
Emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) – problems with managing emotions, relationships and behaviour.
Emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) – a teaching assistant trained to help children with emotional and social issues.
Empty multi-academy trust – an academy trust that currently only runs one academy but plans to take on more academies in future.
English as an additional language (EAL) – where a person’s first language is not English.
Exclusion – officially banning a pupil from school, either temporarily or permanently, on disciplinary grounds. A permanent exclusion used to be known as being expelled.
Executive headteacher – the senior leader who is in charge of multiple schools or multiple phases of a school.
Ex officio governor – someone who is automatically a governor or able to attend meetings of a governing body by virtue of the office they hold, for example a headteacher, parish priest or vicar, ie: the position of governor comes with the job.
Extraordinary meeting – an extra meeting that is held at short notice, outside of the planned schedule of meetings. May be written as EFGB, for extraordinary full governing body.
F
Federation of governing bodies – the arrangement whereby several schools join together under a single governing body. The schools remain separate schools but are governed by one body.
Fischer Family Trust (FFT) – a non-profit body that provides schools with data.
Formula funding – the method by which funds for school budgets are calculated. The most important factor is the number of pupils.
Foundation governor – a person appointed to be a member of a school’s governing body, otherwise than by the LA, to ensure that the school preserves its particular religious character, or that it is conducted in accordance with the terms of a trust deed.
Foundation school – a type of state school which has more freedom than community schools in how it is managed and with its admissions procedures. At foundation schools, the governing body is the employer and the admission authority. The school’s land and buildings are owned by either the governing body or a charitable foundation. Funding comes from the LA, which also pays for any building work.
Foundation stage – the curriculum for pre-school age children.
Free school – all-ability state-funded schools set up in response to what local people want in order to improve education for children in their community. Free schools have the same legal status as academies.
Free school meals (FSM) – all children receive free school meals in reception, year 1 and year 2. Beyond that free meals are given to children whose parents are on low incomes and qualify for some benefits. Children receiving FSM, plus those who were eligible for FSM in the past six years, qualify as pupil premium children.
Full governing body (FGB) – the entire governing body of a school. Also known as the whole governing body (WGB). The term is used to differentiate meetings of the full board from committee meetings.
G
General annual grant (GAG) – most funding for academies comes from this government grant.
General data protection regulation (GDPR) – the regulation that describes how personal data must be handled.
Get information about schools (GIAS) – the DfE online database of all school governors and trustees. Used to be called Edubase.
H
Headteacher (HT) – the most senior teacher who leads the school.
Her majesty’s inspector (HMI) – an inspector from OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills).
Home–school agreement – all state schools used to be required to have written home–school agreements, drawn up in consultation with parents. They were non-binding statements explaining the school’s aims and values, the responsibilities of both school and parents and what the school expects of its pupils.
I
Information communication technology (ICT) – the study of computing and technology.
Independent school – any school that provides full-time education which is not maintained by an LA and is not a non-maintained special school. As these are schools that are not funded by the state, they obtain most of their finances from fees paid by parents and income from investments. Some of the larger independent schools are known as public schools, while most boarding schools are independent.
Information commissioner – the independent office holder set up to oversee and enforce the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act.
In-service education and training (INSET) – the professional training and development of staff working in schools, generally taken as short courses or day conferences, hence the term INSET day.
Instrument of government – a legal document detailing the composition of a governing body of a maintained school.
Interim executive board (IEB) – a board that replaces the existing governors when a school is failing.
K
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) – statutory guidance from the DfE which tells schools how to keep children safe from harm.
Key stages – the four stages of pupils’ progress in acquiring knowledge and skills as set out in the national curriculum. Pupils are tested at the end of each stage:
key Stage 1, where the majority of pupils are aged 5 to 7;
key Stage 2, where the majority of pupils are aged 7 to 11;
key Stage 3, where the majority of children are aged 11 to 14; and
key Stage 4, where the majority of pupils are aged 14 to 16.
There are statutory assessment arrangements at the end of Key Stages 1, 2, and 3.
L
Lay member – a member appointed to a panel hearing appeals against non-admission or exclusion, being a person without personal experience in managing or providing education in any school (other than as a governor or on a voluntary basis).
Learning support assistant (LSA) – a teaching assistant who often works with SEN children.
Learning walk – visiting classrooms to collect evidence on teaching and learning, progress and any areas to improve (but not to make judgements).
Link governor – a governor allocated a specific area to monitor and take an interest in, for example health and safety or special educational needs.
Local authority (LA) – the local government department for a region. Formerly the local education authority (LEA).
Local authority designated officer (LADO) – an employee of the LA who co-ordinates the response to allegations that an adult has harmed a child.
Local authority governor – a maintained school governor nominated by the LA and appointed by the governing body. Academies with older articles of association may also have LA governors.
Local governor – each multi-academy trust has a main board of trustees but it may also have committees called local governing bodies at each of its academies. The individuals serving on these committees are often called local governors.
Local governing body (LGB) – a committee of the main board of trustees in a multi-academy trust based at one of its academies. May be called a local governing committee (LGC), academy committee (AC) or academy council.
Local government pension scheme (LGPS) – the pension scheme for employees of local government.
Looked after child (LAC) – a child who, as defined in section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989, is cared for by the LA or is provided with accommodation by an LA for more than 24 hours under a voluntary agreement with his or her parents, or who is the subject of a care order.
M
Main pay scale (MPS) – under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document more experienced qualified teachers are paid on the upper pay scale and less experienced teachers on the main pay scale.
Maintained nursery school (MNS) – a school providing education for children aged from three to five, maintained by the LA.
Maintained school – a school for which an LA has financial and administrative responsibility.
Management information system (MIS) – an electronic system for recording all school business, such as attendance and other census information.
Members – in an academy trust the members sit above the trustees in the governance structure. They are the “guardians” of the trust and have powers to change the articles of association and appoint some trustees. They also hold the trustees to account, for example at annual general meetings. (Not to be confused with associate members.)
Multi-academy trust (MAT) – two or more academies run by a single board of trustees.
Multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) – a safeguarding team staffed by professionals from different agencies (eg: education, social care, police) that triages concerns about children and serves as a single point of contact for referrals.
N
National curriculum – the national curriculum covers 12 subjects and is divided into four key stages according to age. Maintained schools must follow the national curriculum; academies do not have to follow it but must teach a broad and balanced curriculum including English, maths, science and religious education.
National curriculum tests (commonly referred to as SATs) – statutory national tasks or tests set by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) and taken by pupils at the end of key stages 1 and 2.
National Governance Association (NGA) – the national charity that supports governors and trustees.
National leader of governance (NLG) – someone with considerable experience as a governor or clerk who provides DfE-funded support and advice to school governing boards.
Newly qualified teacher (NQT) – the new name for NQTs is early career teacher.
Nolan principles – a set of agreed standards and behaviours which people in public life should follow, including school governors. Named after Lord Nolan.
Number on roll (NOR) – the number of children registered to attend a school.
Nursery classes – a class in any school comprising children aged three and those who have their fourth birthday during the school year, and any other children whom it is appropriate to educate within that age group. This is usually the year before children attend reception class.
O
Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) – brings together the regulation and inspection of childcare and children’s social care and the inspection of LA children’s services and schools.
Open enrolment – all schools must admit pupils up to their published admission number which is calculated according to the physical capacity of the school to accommodate pupils.
Ordinary resolution – a decision of academy trust members that needs at least 51% of members to vote in favour to be passed.
Overall absence – all recorded absences from school whatever the reason, whether authorised or not.
P
Parent – any person having parental responsibility for a child or who has care of a child, including an LA. Section 576 of the Education Act 1996 defines ‘parent’ as:
all natural parents, whether they are married or not;
any person who, although not a natural parent, has parental responsibility for a child or young person;
any person who, although not a natural parent, has care of a child or young person (having care of a child or young person means that a person with whom the child lives and who looks after the child, irrespective of what their relationship is with the child, is considered to be a parent in education law).
Parent governor – a parent who is usually elected by other parents of children at a school to serve on the governing body. If not enough parents stand for election parent governors can be appointed by the governing board instead.
Parental responsibility – all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority that a parent of a child has by law.
Partnership governor – a type of governor found in foundation schools that no longer have foundations attached.
Parent council – a body of parents which represents parents and provides a forum for them to put forward their views to the headteacher and the governing body of their children’s school.
Parent teacher association (PTA) – an organisation of parents which supports the school through fundraising and social events.
Penalty notice – fines that may be imposed on parents if a pupil has too many unauthorised absences.
Peripatetic teacher – one who gives specialist instruction in a number of schools, for example in music.
Permanent exclusion (PEX) – permanently banning a pupil from a school (used to be known as being expelled).
Persistent absence – when a pupil enrolment’s overall absence equates to 10 per cent or more of their possible sessions.
Personal education plan (PEP) – a record of what needs to happen so that looked after children can fulfil their potential, reflecting any existing educational plans.
Phonics – a method of teaching reading and spelling that trains pupils to associate sounds in the spoken language (phonemes) and their corresponding letters or letter combinations (graphemes).
Phonics screening check – a statutory screening check for pupils at the end of Year 1 to assess their ability to decode and read words using phonics.
Preparation, planning and assessment time (PPA) – guaranteed timetabled time available to teachers and headteachers to enable them to raise standards through individual or collaborative professional activity, as contained in the STPCD.
Prevent duty – the responsibility school staff and governors have to stop children being drawn into terrorism.
Privacy notice – an oral or written statement that an organisation should make available to individuals whose personal information it plans to collect or have collected.
Progress 8– a measure of the progress pupils pupils make in eight subjects from the end of KS2 (the end of primary school) to the end of KS4.
Published admission number (PAN) – the fixed number of children which a school must admit if sufficient applications are received, as published by the admission authority for the school.
Pupil premium (PP) – targeted funding (in addition to the dedicated schools grant) paid mainly to schools, specifically aimed at the most deprived pupils to enable them to receive the support they need to reach their potential and to help schools reduce educational inequalities. Premium funding is also provided in respect of children in care who have been continuously looked after for at least six months and children of parents serving in the armed forces.
Pupil referral unit (PRU) – an establishment maintained by an LA which is specially organised to provide education for children who are excluded, sick or otherwise unable to attend mainstream school, and is not a community or special school.
Pupil reports – headteachers of maintained schools must provide an annual written report on pupils’ educational achievements for every registered pupil at their school.
Q
Qualified teacher status (QTS) – the professional status required to teach in state-maintained schools.
Quorum – the number of governors who must be present to validate the proceedings of a governors’ meeting (to allow governor to make decisions, in other words). If enough governors are present the meeting is quorate; if not it is inquorate.
R
Rag rating – labelling items as Red, Amber or Green (RAG) to show they need attention urgently (red), not urgently (amber) or are already in good shape (green).
Reception classes – an entry class to primary schools for children who have their fifth birthday during the school year and for children who are younger or older than five with whom it is appropriate to educate them.
Regional schools commissioner (RSC) – acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, each RSC has powers to intervene in failing schools and academies, decide on academy transfers, approve academy sponsors and approve new free schools.
Requires improvement (RI) – a rating given to a school by OFSTED after an inspection. The rating scale from lowest to highest is Inadequate (which may result in a school entering Special Measures), RI, Good and then Outstanding.
Resolution – a proposal made formally that requires a vote to be agreed. Academy boards can pass written resolutions outside of meetings.
S
Safeguarding – keeping children safe from physical and emotional harm.
Scheme for financing schools – a document which sets out the financial relationship between the LA and its maintained schools.
Scheme of delegation (SoD) – academies must produce this document which shows the level to which powers have been delegated.
School business manager (SBM) – a staff member responsible for areas such as the budget, health and safety and human resources.
School development plan (SDP) –the key document setting out the priorities and strategies for a school’s development over a rolling period. Some schools call this the school improvement plan (SIP).
Schools financial value standard (SFVS) – a self-assessment form, to be completed annually by maintained schools, consisting of questions that governors need to formally discuss with their headteacher and senior staff. The SFVS assists schools in managing their finances and give assurance that they have secure financial management in place.
Schools forum – a body which must be established by each LA which represents the governing bodies and headteachers of schools maintained by the LA, academies, early years private providers and other interests. Its purpose is to advise the LA on and in some cases decide matters relating to the schools’ budget.
School improvement partner (SIP) – in most cases, someone with current or recent headship experience, who acts as a conduit between central government, the LA and the school, helping to set targets and priorities and identify support needed.
School information and management system (SIMs) – a software package that contains details of pupils and resources.
School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) – contains the statutory requirements for teachers’ pay and conditions within maintained schools in England. Many academies follow this document too.
Self-evaluation form (SEF) – the school’s own judgements on how well it is doing, often based on areas that OFSTED inspect such as leadership and management, quality of education and behaviour and attitudes.
Senior designated person – a senior member of the school’s management team who is designated to take lead responsibility for dealing with child protection issues, providing advice and support to staff and liaising with the LA and other agencies involved in safeguarding children.
Senior leadership team (SLT) – the group of senior staff who lead the school such as the headteacher, deputy head, assistant head and business manager.
Service level agreement (SLA) – a contract between a provider and a customer that explains the terms of the provider’s responsibility to the customer.
Significant improvement – a school requiring significant improvement is one that, although it does not require special measures, is performing significantly less well than it might be expected to perform.
Single academy trust (SAT) – an academy trust that runs only one academy.
Single central record (SCR) – all schools must have an SCR which records personal details of staff, ID checks and recruitment vetting checks including DBS and barred list checks.
Skills audit – asking each governor to list their relevant skills so the board can find out what skills they should advertise for or what training they should offer.
Special educational needs (SEN) – learning difficulties for which a child needs special educational help.
Special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) – the teacher designated as having responsibility for co-ordinating provision for pupils with SEN. Known as the SENDCO in some schools, for special education needs and disability co-ordinator.
Special educational needs and disability (SEND) – learning difficulties plus disabilities.
Special measures – if a school is rated Inadequate by OFSTED it may go into special measures, which means it will receive external support and regular further inspections. The governing body may be replaced by an interim executive board.
Special resolution – a decision of academy trust members that requires 75% of members to agree to it to be passed.
Speech and language therapy (SALT) – helping children with communication, voice and swallowing problems.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG) – one section of the standard assessment tests for primary children.
Sponsor – an organisation or person who has received approval from the DfE to support an underperforming academy or group of academies. For example this might be a university, a business, a charity or a religious group. Sponsors set up the academy trust, appoint the school leaders, select the governing board and monitor the academy’s performance.
Staff governors – an employee of the school who is also a governor. Maintained schools have one staff governor who is elected by their colleagues. Some academies have staff trustees or staff local governors.
Standard assessment tests (SATs) – national tests for primary age children, measuring educational achievement in years 2 and 6.
Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) – a local body advising an LA on matters connected with religious education and collective worship in schools. Faith groups and teachers are represented.
Standing orders – some governing boards establish standing orders to describe procedures which are not already set by other documents; for example, a full procedure for electing a chair of governors.
Statutory guidance – a document published by the government which schools must follow.
Statutory inspection of Anglican/Methodist schools (SIAMS) – an inspection of C of E and Anglican schools which specifically looks at whether their Christian vision is effective. SIAMs inspections are in addition to OFSTED inspections, not a replacement for OFSTED.
Support staff – members of school staff who provide services in a school other than teaching, such as classroom assistants, cleaners and admin staff.
Suspension – a process where a member of staff is told to stop working at the school temporarily, usually while a problem involving him or her is being investigated. Governors can also be suspended in maintained schools and some academies.
T
Teaching and learning responsibility (TLR) – an extra payment for teaching staff who take on additional responsibility.
Teaching assistant (TA) – a member of staff who supports teachers either in whole-class settings, via small groups of children or one-to-one support.
Terms of reference (TOR) – a document which describes the delegated powers, membership and duties of a committee or individual.
Trustee – usually a named individual (although can be a corporate body) who sits on the board of an academy trust. Equivalent to a governor in a maintained school.
U
Unauthorised absence – this occurs when the school has not given permission for the absence of a pupil. Where the reason for it cannot be established at registration, the absence shall be recorded as unauthorised.
Unique reference number (URN) – each school has a six-digit identifying number assigned to it by the government.
Upper pay scale (UPS) – under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document more experienced qualified teachers are paid on the upper pay scale and less experienced teachers on the main pay scale.
V
Virement – transferring money from one budget code to another.
Voluntary-aided school – a school set up and owned by a voluntary body, usually a church body, largely financed by an LA. The governing body employs the staff and controls pupil admissions and religious education. The school’s land and buildings (apart from playing fields, which are normally vested in the LA) will normally be owned by a charitable foundation.
Voluntary-controlled school – a school set up by a voluntary body, often a church body (generally Church of England). These schools are totally funded by an LA, which employs the staff. Normally the school’s land and buildings (apart from the playing fields, which are normally vested in the LA) will be owned by a charitable foundation.
W
Warning notice – a notice by which an LA may notify the governing body of any of its concerns relating to school performance, a breakdown in leadership and management, or pupil or staff safety. This is sometimes referred to as a “formal warning”.
Choice Voting is a private company that enables elections to be held online. In the last 18 months they have helped over 300 schools run electronic elections.
This page explains how Choice Voting could be used to run school governor elections. I also asked Managing Director Jason Hawkins whether the DfE approve of this software, how they handle GDPR and privacy concerns and how they ensure ballots are anonymous but only eligible people can vote.
The Constitution Regulations 2012 specifically permit electronic parent governor ballots in maintained schools (as long as a paper option is offered too) and academy trusts can choose to permit electronic ballots. It’s also possible to hold staff governor elections online as long as the election authority permits it.
Disclaimer: I have never used Choice Voting to run an election so I can’t vouch for them personally. If your school have used their service please get in touch as I would love to hear your views, whether positive or negative. I have not been paid to feature this company on Ask A Clerk.
How is the software installed?
The Choice Voting software runs in your web browser, it is not installed locally on your PC.
How is the election set up?
First the school signs up for an account and sets the basic details of the election such as the closing date and the number of vacancies to be filled. The candidate names are added, along with their election statements.
Next, details of eligible voters can be typed in one by one or you can import a comma separated values (CSV) file, which can be generated by Excel or another spreadsheet program. The importing process is explained here and a sample file is provided so you can see the headings you need in the spreadsheet.
There are two ways to register eligible voters. First, you can use their real names and email addresses. Second, if you do not wish to input these personal details you could instead assign a reference number to each voter and type that number in instead.
The advantage of the first option is that the software can send out invitations via email asking people to vote; the disadvantage is that you need an email address for every voter.
Schools can schedule a demo of the software where the company will talk you through the process.
How do people vote?
Once the election has been launched voters visit a web page to cast their vote. If they click the link in an email sent directly from Choice Voting they will be automatically logged in.
They will see the candidate names and statements and asked to choose their preferred candidate(s). The software prevents them from casting multiple votes.
Once the election has closed the school logs in to their account and the results are available to view, with the votes automatically counted by the software.
How much does it cost to run one election?
The price depends on how many voters are eligible to take part in the election (not the number of votes eventually cast), so in effect it will depend on the size of your school.
A calculator allows you to find the rough price for your school, but the company offer discounts specifically for school elections with over 400 voters so this is a rough guide only. (Remember that in parental governor elections the usual rule is one vote per parent per vacancy, not one vote per family.)
If you have 500 eligible parent voters, for example, the rough cost to run one election is £67.50. For 1000 voters it becomes £112.50. For 2000 voters the cost is around £202.50.
Schools can run unlimited elections for a fixed annual fee. You can also run elections with fewer than 20 voters for free in order to test the system.
Can the school see how someone voted?
No. The person with the Choice Voting login details sees the results of the election but could not look up, for example, how Mr Bob Smith voted as the votes are shown anonymously.
If voters have been added to the system using their real names and email addresses they are assigned a “voter key” and a “voter ID” to anonymise them. These are strings of number and letters, so a voter ID might look like this: JPQEUZVTKPQ6.
Does the DfE approve of this software?
I asked the Managing Director of Choice Voting, Jason Hawkins, to address this question and his reply is below.
“Whilst we haven’t had conversation with DfE directly, we work alongside an independent scrutineer organisation that is registered for parliamentary elections and House of Lords elections and we work closely together to ensure we meet the requirements of many organisations.
“We deal with political parties and trade unions as well as charities on a daily or weekly basis and have conducted many thousands of elections with these organisations.”
Jason Hawkins, Managing Director of Choice Voting
How does the software allow anonymous elections while blocking ineligible votes?
The technology behind the software is explained below.
“Ensuring that only eligible voters may take part in an election is a standard that would be expected from election-specific software. We have addressed this concern in multiple ways.
“Our voters may only vote once, and at the point of voting their voting rights are ‘locked in’ and ballots cannot be changed, therefore another person may not share or use existing login credentials. We have additional safeguards that mean the voters don’t actually know login credentials to share.
“Each voter is given a unique key and ID combination. This is then encrypted and paired to a certificate in our software. When voters receive an invitation to vote they will be presented with a “vote now” button. This button also has a key pair attached to it and a combination of checks ensure that this keychain has not been altered in anyway.
“Voting is anonymous. An election administrator will never know who made which selection during the submission of a ballot. An administrator will however have a real-time audit feature that allows them to see as live voting statistics on the performance of the election, including the ability to guide and help those that haven’t yet voted.”
Jason Hawkins, Managing Director of Choice Voting
Do schools need to hand over email addresses? What about GDPR?
If schools are planning to run the election using email addresses they must make sure that the parents or staff know their data will be used in this way (although that’s less of a problem if your staff use school email addresses of course). A data sharing agreement can also be used.
“There are a number of ways to look at this. Choice Voting can send out personalised invitation emails to all parents that inform them how to vote, what the vote is about and when the vote is available. It will use the key pairing described above.
“However, we do not ever insist that you add a parent’s email address, or a real name; it could be a reference number for example. The caveat here is that if you don’t include an email address then we are unable to send the notification to vote email. We do though provide you with the required information to enable you to send this using your own systems if required.
“We will request that you have informed and gained consent from parents to include them in the election. We do not use any voter or candidate data for marketing purposes, sell or re-use data or make use of any data for purposes other than informing a voter how to vote at the start of your elections.
“You may download an encrypted copy of your election, delete everything, and if you need to run a similar election in the future, upload the encrypted file and everything is put back in place in the same way you left it. We have data sharing agreements that we are happy to sign and share with schools where required.”
Jason Hawkins, Managing Director of Choice Voting
Jason Hawkins also told me that personal data is encrypted and once an election is over the school can delete specific data (eg: all voter data) or delete the election completely.
Governors or trustees must approve pay rises for the headteacher and will usually approve pay rises for senior leaders as well. In many schools they also approve pay rises for all teachers.
Pay decisions are usually made by a pay committee. If a teacher is refused a pay rise they have the right to appeal, with their case heard by a separate group of governors who have not sat on the pay committee.
This page explains the common procedures for the pay and appeals process, but check the teachers’ pay policy at your own school (as well as any terms of reference for existing committees) to see the rules at your own setting. The DfE provide a model pay policy in their document Implementing Your School’s Approach To Pay.
Pay Committee Procedures
The role of the pay committee is to make decisions on pay progression, which means whether teachers move up a point (or “increment”) on their pay scale.
Decisions in maintained schools depend on how well the teacher has done their job and the results of their annual appraisal; this is know as performance-related pay. Academies may use performance-related pay but do not have to.
Your school may have a separate pay committee or it may be part of the wider responsibilities of another committee that covers finance or resources.
It is not wise to allow pay decisions to be made at full governing body meetings. This is because teachers should be given a right to appeal against a decision and you will need a separate group of governors to hear that appeal.
For example, the model pay policy from my own LA states that a pay appeal must be heard by governors who have not been previously involved in making pay decisions for that teacher.
“The appeal committee will consist of three governors, none of whom have been previously involved in the pay determination for that teacher.”
In both maintained schools and academies there is no maximum number of governors/trustees who can join the pay committee, but it is wise to make sure at least three governors or trustees do not join the pay committee so they can sit on the appeals panel.
Check the teachers’ pay policy for your own school or academy to see exactly how many governors or trustees will be needed if a teacher appeals.
The full governing body decides who sits on the pay committee and the terms of reference for that committee should state how many governors are members and the number of governors needed for a quorum.
In maintained schools there must be a minimum of threegovernors on the pay committee, because that is the minimum quorum set by the Roles, Procedures and Allowances Regulations 2013. With two governors or fewer the committee cannot make decisions.
“The governing body must determine the constitution, membership and terms of reference of any committee they decide to establish and review them annually.
“The quorum for any meeting of a committee must be determined by that committee, but in any event must be not less than three governors who are members of the committee.”
In academies it is up to the board of trustees to decide how many trustees form the pay committee. Check your committee’s terms of reference for details.
Who can join the pay committee?
In all schools the pay committee should be formed from governors or trustees who are not employed by that school.
In maintained schools the law forbids all school employees apart from the headteacher from voting on an employee’s pay or appraisal or taking part in the related discussions. The headteacher is also forbidden from voting on their own pay, but is legally allowed to vote on the pay of all other staff.
“(1) This sub-paragraph applies where a relevant person who is paid to work at a school other than as head teacher is present at a meeting of the school at which a subject of consideration is the pay or performance appraisal of any particular person employed to work at the school.
(2) This sub-paragraph applies where a head teacher of a school is present at a meeting of the school at which a subject of consideration is the head teacher’s own pay or performance appraisal.
(3) In any case where sub-paragraph (1) or (2) applies, the relevant person’s interest will be treated for the purpose of regulation 16(2) as being in conflict with the governing body’s interests.”
Therefore, if a maintained school pay committee is voting on the headteacher’s pay no school employees at all can take part in discussions or vote.
If the pay committee is voting on the pay of any staff member except the headteacher then only the headteacher can legally take part and vote.
However, even though the law allows the head to sit on a pay committee as long as their own pay is not being discussed, this is not considered good practice. The pay process is more robust if the person making the recommendations does not take part in the final decision.
The head still attends meetings of the pay committee but only to explain their recommendations on pay rises and answer questions from governors. The pay committee must then approve or reject these recommendations.
In academies the law quoted above does not apply, but the rules on conflicts of interest in your article of association mean that no trustee employed by the academy can vote on whether to give one of their colleagues a pay rise.
The chief executive officer or principal can attend the pay committee to make recommendations but should not have a vote and must leave the meeting if their own pay is being discussed.
There is a specific rule in the model articles of association that requires trustees to withdraw from a meeting when their own pay is being discussed.
“Any trustee who has or can have any direct or indirect duty or personal interest (including but not limited to any personal financial interest) which conflicts or may conflict with their duties as a trustee shall disclose that fact to the trustees as soon as they become aware of it.
“A trustee must be absent from any discussions of the trustees in which it is possible that a conflict will arise between their duty to act solely in the interests of the academy trust and any duty or personal interest (including but not limited to any personal financial interest).
“For the purpose of article 97, a trustee has a personal financial interest in the employment or remuneration of, or the provision of any other benefit to, that trustee as permitted by and as defined by articles 6.5-6.8A.”
Yes. All governors must consider whether they have a conflict of interest, as they must for any vote, but a governor is not automatically conflicted just because their child attends the school (or used to).
The DfE advise in their document Implementing Your School’s Approach To Pay that one reason a teacher could appeal is if one of the original decision-makers was biased. This might apply to a governor who is related to or close friends with a member of staff, for example. In that case the governor obviously should not be making decisions about whether their friend or relation gets a pay rise.
Can the chair of governors sit on the pay committee?
Yes. Some schools allocate the chair of governors or trustees to the pay committee and save the vice-chair for an appeals panel (or vice versa), but there are no rules that restrict whether the chair or vice-chair should be on the committee.
Who can see minutes of the pay committee?
Minutes are usually sent only to those governors who are members of the committee. This is because the remaining governors may need to hear an appeal and could be influenced by the reasoning or decisions recorded in the pay committee minutes.
Should governors see teachers’ actual salaries?
No. Governors will usually be given an anonymised report that describes staff as teacher A, teacher B and so on. The report will show whether a teacher has fully or partially met each of their objectives. It may also show how their lessons have been judged (eg: Outstanding, Good etc) or include a short comment from the appraiser.
Salary recommendations are shown as points on the payscale rather than actual figures such as £25,000, so one recommendation might say “Teacher A: met two objectives fully and one partially, recommend move up from M1 to M2”.
In small schools it is not possible to completely anonymise salary recommendations and even in larger schools some of the higher salaries are easily identified – the highest paid teacher is clearly the headteacher, the second highest the deputy head and so on. However, there is no need for governors to know the exact amount each teacher is paid.
What governors can ask for is data on the protected characteristics of teachers under the Equality Act 2010 including race, sex, age and disability. This will allow them to check for any signs of discrimination or bias, for example female teachers receiving fewer recommendations for a pay rise than males.
“It is good practice for schools to record what steps they undertake to avoid discrimination. Equality monitoring is the most effective and efficient method of identifying potential inequality in workplace policies and procedures.
“A breakdown of pay decisions according to each protected characteristic (where applicable) would provide an initial snap-shot. Comparisons year-on-year would then show trends and may identify potential discriminatory practices or procedures.”
In maintained schools the minimum and maximum salaries for each payscale are set by the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). Below are the various payscales named in the STPCD.
The unqualified teacher pay scale.
The main pay scale for qualified teachers, often written as M1, M2 etc. Traditionally there were six points on this pay scale but your school may have more or less. A newly qualified teacher would join the school on the main pay scale.
The upper pay scale, often written as UPS1, UPS2 etc (or UP1, UP2). Qualified teachers can apply to be paid on the upper pay scale at least once a year. Traditionally there were three points on this pay scale but your school may have more or less.
The leading practitioner pay scale, for teachers who are modelling and leading the improvement of teaching skills.
The leadership grouppay scale, for senior leaders. Often written as L1, L2 etc.
The specific salaries for each point on the payscale will be shown in your school’s pay policy. For example, in my LA’s model policy a teacher on the main payscale point M1 earns £25,714 and a teacher on UPS3 earns £41,604.
Governors may also discuss the individual schools range (ISR) for the head, deputy head and and assistant heads. This means the minimum and maximum pay points they can receive. For example an assistant head might be paid on an ISR of L10 to L14.
Finally, a teaching and learning responsibility (TLR) payment may also be discussed. This is an extra payment given to teachers who take on additional responsibilities.
In academies boards do not have to follow the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document unless staff have transferred to the academy under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) or “TUPE” process. If staff transferred under TUPE their contract remained the same so the STPCD still applies.
Many academies choose to follow the STPCD anyway, even when the TUPE process does not apply. Check the pay policy of your academy trust to see the pay scales and processes in use.
Should governors see teachers’ appraisals?
No, the details of the appraisals are considered confidential to each employee. Governors can ask questions about the appraisal process to check it is effective, fair and using appropriate evidence, but they do not need to view the actual appraisals.
“The appraisal and capability processes will be treated with confidentiality. However, the desire for confidentiality does not override the need for the headteacher and governance board to quality-assure the operation and effectiveness of the appraisal system.”
Should governors make pay decisions for all teachers or just senior leaders?
Governors must make decisions about the headteacher’s pay and a separate articles covers the head’s appraisal process.
For all other teachers it is up to the governing body whether to take decisions themselves or delegate the decision to the headteacher or an individual governor. The DfE model pay policy indicates that procedures can vary from school to school.
“Insert any particular arrangements for your school. For example, decisions may be made by an individual (eg: a governor or the head) or a pay committee of the governance board).”
The most common advice seems to be that at minimum governors should make pay decisions for the senior leadership team (SLT).
The National Education Union recommends that the pay committee makes pay decisions for “all leadership group” teachers. It is up to the governing body whether pay decisions for teachers below that level are made by governors or delegated to the head or chief executive officer and this may depend partly on the size of the school.
“Governing bodies are permitted to delegate pay decisions to a governing body committee, individual governors or the headteacher.
“The NEU advises that decisions in respect of all leadership group teachers should be taken by the governing body committee responsible for pay/staffing issues and reported to the full governing body.
“Decisions in respect of deputy and assistant headteachers should not be delegated to the headteacher alone.”
The pay committee members receive limited information because they cannot see the actual appraisals. However, governors should be asking questions to ensure the pay process is robust and decisions justified, that the school’s approach to pay is having an impact and that the budget implications of pay rises have been considered.
“Will the governance board be able to defend its decisions if challenged (eg: by dissatisfied teachers or by Ofsted)?
“Governance boards will need to satisfy themselves that objective-setting is rigorous and that the school’s pay policy provides a clear link between levels of achievement and progression.”
The DfE model pay policy says the governors need to make decisions “in the light of the school’s budget” and ensure that their school can afford the increases.
“The governance board will consider its approach in the light of the school’s budget and ensure that appropriate funding is allocated for pay progression at all levels.”
Here are some possible questions that the pay committee could ask.
Does the number of staff passing through to the upper pay scale match the overall quality of teaching?
Do the overall number of pay rises correlate with the overall quality of teaching?
Do pay rises correlate with pupil outcomes?
If all teachers have met all their objectives, were they ambitious enough? If many teachers have failed objectives, were they too tough?
When was a pay rise last denied?
If pay rises are never denied are we sure objectives are ambitious enough and appraisals fair but rigorous?
How do you know that appraisals are fair and take into account relevant evidence?
If a move to the upper pay range is recommended, how do we know that teacher has made a “substantial and sustained” contribution to the school, which is a requirement of STPCD?
What are the total costs of implementing these proposed pay rises?
Has the cost been accounted for in the budget?
Appeal Panel Procedures
If a teacher has been denied a pay rise they should be given a chance to appeal against the decision. They might argue for example that the school’s pay policy was not applied correctly, that evidence used in their appraisal was inaccurate or that they were discriminated against.
“Schools should ensure that an appeals procedure is in place before any pay determinations are made. What follows is intended as a guide as there is no statutory process for schools to follow in terms of hearing pay appeals.”
There is no statutory process for pay appeals but the DfE recommend a three-stage process as follows:
An informal discussion with the appraiser or headteacher before the pay recommendation is confirmed.
A formal representation to the person or governors making the decision on pay.
An appeal to a panel hearing involving governors. The decision of the governor appeals panel is final.
“In the hearing before governors, both the teacher and the management representative will have the opportunity to present their evidence and call witnesses; the parties will also be able to question each other.
“The panel is permitted to ask exploratory questions. The appeal panel’s decision is final and, as set out in section 3 of the STPCD, there is no recourse to the general staff grievance procedure.”
The DfE recommend that three governors form the appeals panel. This matches the recommendation from my own LA, whose model policy says that the appeal panel “will consist of three governors”.
“It is recommended that the panel which hears pay appeals should comprise three governors who were not involved in previous discussions regarding the teacher’s pay determination.”
Crucially, these three governors should not be the same governors who sat on the pay committee or took part in any discussions about the teacher’s pay. This is because the appeals process is designed to give the teacher a fresh, unbiased hearing.
Rather than having a fixed membership of three named governors you could say the appeals panels will be formed from any three governors in the available “pool”. The pool contains all governors who are eligible to hear an appeal.
For example, terms of reference for the pay appeals panel might say that membership consists of “Any three governors who are not school employees or members of the pay committee/headteacher’s appraisal panel.”
Using the pooled approach makes it easier to assemble an appeals panel within the timeframe set by your pay policy.
Who can attend the appeals panel?
Obviously the governor panel and the teacher themselves can attend, as well as the headteacher or senior leader who made the pay recommendation that is being contested.
In addition the teacher can bring a colleague, union rep or representative from a professional organisation. A clerk should also attend to take notes.
“Teachers making representation at stage two and making an appeal at stage three may be accompanied by a colleague or representative from a professional organisation or trade union.
“Pay appeals should be formally clerked and a note of proceedings should be produced.”
Introductions – The chair introduces everyone and explains what their role is, then outlines the order of the hearing. – The human resources clerk takes notes of the hearing.
The Employee Case – The employee or their representative presents the employee case, providing any evidence to support their case, including from witnesses (if any). – A management representative has the opportunity to question the employee. – The chair asks questions and subsequently opens the discussion to the panel
The Management Case – The management representative presents management case, providing any evidence to support their case, including any witnesses. – The employee or their representative has the opportunity to question the management representative. – The chair asks questions and subsequently opens the discussion to the panel.
Summarising and End of Hearing – The employee or their representative sums up the employee case. – The management representative sums up the management case. – If appropriate, the chair can sum up the key points on both sides. – The chair will then end the hearing, advising the employee that they will receive the panel’s decision in writing within a given timescale.
Decision-Making – The panel meet to reach their decision. – The HR clerk notes the main points of the panel discussion and their decision. – The panel obtains HR advice, if required, to inform their decision-making.
Communication of Decision – The employee is notified of the decision. The decision and reason for the decision is confirmed in writing.
There is no requirement for schools or academies to request references for potential governors or trustees.
However, some governing boards do ask for references. In reality I suspect schools that struggle to find volunteers rarely request references, whereas schools with more competition for roles may ask for references to help them choose between candidates.
This page is mostly about appointed governor positions where the board itself (or a linked body like the diocese) decides who gets the position.
Elected governors are elected by staff or parents so there’s no point asking for references, although I will look briefly at whether elected parent governors need to be nominated by two fellow parents.
Note that although obtaining references is optional, enhanced DBS checks and section 128 checks are mandatory for all governors and trustees.
“When you accept a position the school or trust will require an enhanced DBS check. They will normally organise this for you. Volunteers may also be asked by the school or trust to supply references.”
The DfE guidance on the law for maintained schools says that either oral or written references should be “taken as necessary”. References can be used alongside an interview or informal chat with the potential governor to help boards decide who to appoint.
The quote below refers to an “interview or detailed discussion” taking place before appointment, which will usually be with the chair of governors. Again, how formal or in-depth this discussion is will depend on each school and how easy they find it to recruit.
“To make an informed decision on the matter an interview or detailed discussion will need to take place with each prospective candidate, with references (oral or written) taken as necessary and appropriate.”
There is no statutory requirement to check the references of volunteers. Part 3 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) explains the safer recruitment practices which ensure that only suitable people are selected to work and volunteer in schools.
KCSIE explains that all job applicants should provide referees before interview. However, for volunteer roles the guidance says that schools should “use their professional judgement” when deciding “what checks, if any” are required.
Governors will not be supervising children or taking part in “regulated activity” so schools may decide that references are not needed. Note that KCSIE allows the school to consider both “formal and informal” information about volunteers gleaned from staff, parents or other volunteers.
“Whilst volunteers play an important role and are often seen by children as being safe and trustworthy adults, the nature of voluntary roles varies.
“Schools and colleges should undertake a written risk assessment and use their professional judgement and experience when deciding what checks, if any, are required.
“The risk assessment should consider:
– the nature of the work with children, especially if it will constitute regulated activity, including the level of supervision;
– what the establishment knows about the volunteer, including formal or informal information offered by staff, parents and other volunteers;
– whether the volunteer has other employment or undertakes voluntary activities where referees can advise on their suitability.”
A personal or character reference comes from someone who knows you outside of work, for example a person you have volunteered with or a family friend. A professional reference is from an employer.
The guidance from Keeping Children Safe in Education (quoted above) talks about references from employers or voluntary work colleagues rather than personal references. Governors For Schools matches volunteers to governing body vacancies and they also recommend that professional references are requested.
“Schools are responsible for collecting references and DBS checks. A professional reference is generally the best option.“
I do think schools need to avoid discouraging applications from people who might struggle to provide an employer’s reference – for example, someone who has been a full-time parent for years or perhaps receives benefits.
I also think it’s important not to give the impression that only high-flying white collar professionals could possibly succeed as school governors. I saw a tweet recently from a potential parent governor who was worried that the other candidates were all going to be “captains of industry”.
There is a danger that when schools list desired skills like accountancy, human resources and data analysis that they make school governance sound like it is for people with glittering CVs and six-figure salaries only and us mere mortals should not apply. That is not the case!
At what stage should we request references?
Keeping Children Safe in Education explains that for job applicants, seeking references before interview allows “concerns raised to be explored further with the referee and taken up with the candidate at interview”.
This logic could also apply to volunteer roles, but either way the references should be received before the board actually vote on the appointment so that an informed decision can be made.
“It is good practice for schools to take up references before confirming their decision to appoint you so do be prepared to provide these if requested.”
Keeping Children Safe In Education just refers to seeking “referees” for volunteers but does not specify an exact number.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) offer guidance on safer recruitment procedures for recruiting staff and volunteers who have contact with children. They suggest “at least two” references are sought and this is the norm for job applications as well.
Governors will usually only have contact with children under supervised conditions, but schools could choose to follow this advice for governance roles if they wish.
“You should ask applicants to provide the details of at least two referees and check references as part of your vetting checks.”
Must parent governors be nominated by two parents?
Volunteers for staff governor can simply nominate themselves, but some local authorities say that parent governors must be nominated by two fellow parents in order to stand for election. (This is sometimes called “proposing and seconding” a nomination.)
This is in effect asking for two references, because the candidate must find two parents to support their candidacy.
I’m a bit dubious about this, particularly because the law for maintained schools says you cannot set a minimum number of votes needed to be elected. If the parent can only stand if two people support them, isn’t that close to setting a minimum of two votes?
“The appropriate authority must make all the necessary arrangements for the election of parent governors.
“The power conferred by paragraph 4 does not include power to impose any requirements as to the minimum number of votes required to be cast for a candidate to be elected.”
Incidentally, the guidance for Welsh parent governors clearly states that schools cannot insist that parents have two nominators. This guidance does not apply to English schools, but the law on parent governor elections in Wales is very similar to the law for maintained schools in England.
“It cannot be insisted upon that the person is nominated and seconded by other parents.”
Asking for two nominators does seem to be what some LAs recommend in maintained schools though, so check your local LA guidance for details. (Academies should check the election rules set by their own trust.)
School employees can serve as governors at their own school, but there are limits on the number of employees who can sit on the governing body. There are also restrictions on the types of governor a school employee can be.
This page explains the rules for employees who become governors at the school where they work. (School staff are also allowed to govern at a different school and this is actively encouraged by the National Governance Association.)
co-opted governors (but only within the limits explained below)
parent governors (but only if they work for the school for 500 hours per year or less), and
foundation governors (if the diocese or foundation body allow it).
Maintained school employees cannot be:
the local authority governor
partnership governors.
The 500 hours rule for parent governors is explained in a separate article on parent governors who work for the school. There is also a place on the governing body reserved for the headteacher, which cannot be taken by any other employee if the headteacher resigns as a governor.
” A person is disqualified from election or appointment as a parent governor of a school if the person…is paid to work at the school for more than 500 hours in any twelve consecutive months.
“A person is disqualified from appointment as a local authority governor if the person is eligible to be a staff governor of the school.
“A person is disqualified from nomination or appointment as a partnership governor of a school if the person is…eligible to be a staff governor of the school.”
How many co-opted governors can be school employees?
In maintained schools there is a limit to the number of co-opted governors who can be employed by the school.
The number of co-opted governors who are school employees must not exceed one third of the total board when added to the staff governor and the headteacher.
“The total number of co-opted governors who are also eligible to be elected as staff governors, when counted with the staff governor and the head teacher, must not exceed one third of the total membership of the governing body.”
So if you have nine governors in total on your board you can only have one co-opted governor, because that co-opted governor plus the head plus the staff governor equals three out of nine, so one-third of the board exactly.
The rule is not simply that a maximum of one third of governors overall can be employed by the school. It is only the number of co-opted governors who are employed by the school that are added to the head and staff governor, not governors from any other category.
Co-opted Governor Calculations For Maintained Schools
If you have seven to 11 total governors you can have only one co-opted school employee.
If you have 12 to 14 total governors you can have two co-opted school employees.
If you have 15 to 17 total governors you can have three co-opted school employees.
If you have 18 to 20 total governors you can have four co-opted school employees.
Here are some more detailed examples to show what happens in specific situations.
Example one – the board has 12 governors overall, with two co-opted governors who are school employees. The headteacher, plus the staff governor, plus two co-opted school employees equals four out of 12, so one third exactly. This school cannot appoint another employee as a co-opted governor.
However, if the school advertises for a parent governor and one of their lunchtime supervisors wins the election that is fine. The total number of governors who are employees is now greater than a third, but the law permits that (and parent governors can work for the school within the 500 hours limit).
Example two – the board has 15 governors overall, with three co-opted governors who are school employees. No more co-opted employees can be appointed. However, it is a faith school and the diocese can appoint a foundation governor who is a school employee if they wish.
What if we have vacancies on the board?
Ignore vacancies when making these calculations – it is the total number of governors in your constitution that count, so the total number of positions shown on your instrument of government.
Say you had 12 governors in total, including two co-opted governors who are employed by the school. Remember that these two governors are added to the head and the staff governor in this sum.
Your LA governor resigns leaving you with 11 governors in total and one vacancy, but the board does not have to remove one of its co-opted governors who are school employees, even though 4/11 is more than one-third.
(If the board did have to include vacancies when making these calculations they would immediately be able to reinstate the co-opted employee as soon as a new LA governor was appointed. But would then have to remove the co-opted employee again if the new LA governor resigned…in other words, the rule wouldn’t work in practice.)
Having said that, boards should always try to fill vacancies and keep an eye on situations where the board has become staff-heavy, but they don’t have to immediately jettison a co-opted employee if a vacancy arises.
What if someone is paid by the school but not employed?
The law restricts the number of co-opted governors who are “also eligible to be elected as staff governors”. A person is eligible to be a staff governor if they are employed by either the governing body itself or the local authority under a contract.
Therefore if someone does not have a contract at the school, perhaps providing a service to the school and invoicing them or working as a self-employed flute teacher for example, they do not need to be counted in the one-third rule.
“In these Regulations “staff governor” means a person who—
(a) is elected in accordance with Schedule 2 as a governor by persons who are employed by either the governing body or the local authority under a contract of employment providing for those persons to work at the school, and
Yes. There are no legal limits on the number of associate members who are school employees, although all associate members should be appointed for their skills.
Boards should also try to maintain a decent balance between different stakeholders: school employees, parents and members of the community.
Rules For Academies
The Academy Trust Handbook recommends that the only trust employee to serve as a trustee is the senior executive leader, so the CEO or principal. The Handbook says that no other employees should be trustees.
“Any newly appointed senior executive leader can only be a trustee if the members decide to appoint them as such, the senior executive leader agrees and the trust’s articles permit it. No other employees should serve as trustees.”
However, many academies do have staff trustees, so check your own articles to see how many staff trustees are allowed.
The current model articles of association allow academy trust employees to be trustees as long as the total number of trust employees does not exceed one third of the total board.
“The total number of trustees [including the [chief executive officer]/[principal] if they so choose to act as trustee who are employees of the academy trust shall not exceed one third of the total number of trustees.”
The model articles also specify that academy employees cannot be appointed as co-opted trustees if this would result in more than one third of trustees in total being employees.
“The trustees may not co-opt an employee of the academy trust as a co-opted trustee if thereby the number of trustees who are employees of the academy trust would exceed one third of the total number of trustees [including the [chief executive officer]/[principal] to the extent they are a trustee].”
The rules for local governing bodies are set by each academy trust, so check the terms of reference for a local board to see whether academy employees can join. The LGB may adopt a similar “one-third only” rule to the total number of local governors who can be trust employees.
