Yes and no. School governors do not conduct formal lesson observations where teachers are given a judgement on the quality of their teaching.
However, governors should visit classrooms to increase their knowledge of the school and see whether the policies they have approved and spending decisions they have made have had an impact.
This distinction can be confusing for new governors because teachers use the phrase “lesson observation” to mean a member of the senior leadership team watching a lesson, giving it a rating and offering the teacher formal feedback on their performance. If a teacher is being observed they are being assessed.
A new governor may use the word “observe” to mean they intend to stand quietly at the back of the class and not interfere with the lesson, but to a teacher anyone who is “observing” is also assessing.
Governors do not conduct lesson observations because these observations are part of the day-to-day running of the school; they are operational, not strategic and therefore they are the headteacher’s responsibility.
Most governors are also not qualified to assess teaching and have not been trained to do so.
“It is not the governing body’s role to assess teaching and learning or to interfere in the day-to-day running of the school.”
DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide
That being said, governors should definitely visit classrooms. It can be helpful to use the term governor visits rather than observations so no-one misunderstands why governors are in school.
Governors should be getting to know the school and seeing how the policies they have approved are being implemented; they should not be passing judgements on the quality of teaching.
“Occasional visits to schools enable governors to fulfil their statutory responsibility for the conduct of the school, see whether the school is implementing their policies and improvement plans [and] see how their policies and improvement plans are working in practice.
“Focused governor monitoring visits should be in line with SIP priorities, for an identified purpose linked to the governing body’s responsibilities, such as safeguarding [and] pre-arranged with the headteacher or executive headteacher.”
DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide
OFSTED also remind governors in a blog post that they should not stray into operational tasks and that there is a difference between an informal classroom visit and a formal lesson observation.
“But I accept that in small schools, governors tend to be more hands-on. Inspectors will be sensitive to this when they consider the work of governors, but we wouldn’t expect governors to be going into lessons to formally observe teaching or scrutinise pupils’ books.”
OFSTED Blog