Category: Recruitment, Induction and Training

These are the options available if your school governors are looking for online training and e-learning. Please let me know if you know of any other courses available and I will add them to this page.

All the courses listed are pre-recorded sessions so you do not need to book and you can access the learning at any time. The only free courses I have found are from Governors For Schools and a Prevent duty course from the government, but many of the paid providers listed offer free trials.

National Governance Association (PAID)

The National Governance Association (NGA) offer online e-learning through their Learning Link program, with a free trial available. They offer a suite of 50 modules on all aspects of governance, plus bitesize courses that take just five to 15 minutes to complete. Courses available include:

• key functions of the governing board
• governance visits to schools
• monitoring and evaluation
• understanding schools finance
• getting it right as a staff governor
• succession planning
• handling difficult situations
• exclusions
• pupil premium
• headteacher appraisal and capability
• health and safety.

The cost depends on whether you are a member of the NGA. If you are not a member it costs £165 for one year of access for all governors. Standard NGA members can purchase one year of access for £122 and gold members for £82.

Sign Up For Learning Link

The Key for School Governors (PAID)

The Key for School Governors launched their online training in 2020. There is one induction course available so far for maintained school governors, with an academy induction course coming soon. Future courses to release in 2021 will cover being a link governor for safeguarding, SEND and pupil premium.

Members of the Key also gain access to a wide range of articles, policies and compliance documents. Discounts are available if your school also subscribes to The Key for School Leaders and a free trial is available too.

The cost of membership will depend on the number of pupils in your school. As a guide a smaller school of 200-4oo pupils might cost around £525 per year whereas a larger one of around 1000 pupils might cost around £705.

Sign Up For The Key For School Governors

Modern Governor (PAID)

Modern Governor offer a range of paid e-learning courses on subjects such as:

• effective governance
• what to expect from your chair
• OFSTED
• safeguarding and governance
• GDPR essentials.

You will need to ask for a quote as they do not list prices online. However GovernorHub members can access all their courses as part of their membership package. GovernorHub costs £400 per year for each single governing board or £400 for a multi-academy trust board plus £100 for each local committee. Free trials are also available.

Sign Up To GovernorHub

Request A Quote for Modern Governor

Governors For Schools (FREE)

Governor For Schools used to be called SGOSS, the School Governors’ One-Stop Shop. They offer the following free online courses:

• induction training
• SEND for governors
• multi-academy trusts
• employability and work-related learning
• driving school improvement
• performance data for new governors
• finance for new governors.

Visit Governors For Schools

National Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Children (PAID)

The NSPCC provide an online course on child protection specifically for school governors. It explains the role and responsibilities of governors regarding safeguarding, the duties of the school, creating a safer culture and how to provide evidence that your school is fulfilling its safeguarding duties.

The course costs £25 but discounts are available if multiple governors are taking the course at the same time.

The NSPCC also offer a course on safer recruitment in education which may be useful to governors who are involved in hiring staff. The safer recruitment course costs £35 per person with discounts for multiple purchases.

Buy Child Protection Training For School Governors

Buy Safer Recruitment Training For Education

Home Office (FREE)

The government provide online training on the Prevent duty, the obligation on schools to help prevent pupils from being radicalised into terrorism. It was developed using feedback from teachers and aims to explain how you can safeguard vulnerable young people who could become radicalised.

Visit E-Learning Training On Prevent

Services For Education (PAID)

Services For Education offer a selection of online courses for governors, most of which cost £100. Topics include:

• understanding the quality of education
• preparing the governing body for OFSTED
• monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the pupil premium grant
• using the primary inspection data summary report (IDSR).

Buy Services for Education Training

National Online Safety (PAID)

National Online Safety offer a course on online safety specifically for school governors. It covers the law and statutory guidance around safeguarding children online, the responsibilities of governors, how staff can support pupils, how to develop a culture of safety and keeping up to date with online risks.

The course costs £100 if the school is not a member of National Online Safety but can be accessed for free if you become a certified school at £495 per year.

Buy National Online Safety Training

All school governors and academy trustees must have safeguarding and child protection training, including online safety training.

The DfE Governance Guides also recommend that induction training is provided and at least one governor/trustee should complete cyber security training.

Safeguarding Training

The requirement to have safeguarding training comes from the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).

KCSIE says that the training should be “regularly updated”, which I imagine most schools will interpret as updated annually.

“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.

“Their training should be regularly updated.”

Keeping Children Safe in Education

Your school may invite governors to attend the safeguarding training they give to staff members, although be aware that the governor role is different to staff roles so the training may not cover everything governors need to know.

Online courses such as Child Protection for School Governors from the NSPCC are also available.

Cyber Security Training

The DfE recommend in their Governance Guides that “at least one” governor or trustee should take cyber security training.

“Governing bodies need to understand the considerable damage cyber security attacks can cause to their schools. At least one governor should complete cyber security training.”

DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide

“The board needs to understand the considerable damage cyber security attacks can cause to their trust. At least one trustee should complete the cyber security training.”

DfE Academy Trust Governance Guide

Induction Training

The DfE says that boards in both maintained schools and academies are responsible for providing induction training.

The quote below is from the Maintained Schools Governance Guide but the wording is very similar in the academy trust version.

“A governing body is responsible for…providing an induction for new governors, associate members and the governance professional and identifying specific training such as safeguarding, Prevent and how to keep pupils safe online.”

DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide

I would not want to serve as a governor without induction training that explains the powers of governors and how they should be used. Governors have a wide range of responsibilities and poor governance can have a serious impact on the school.

Meetings can be difficult to understand at first, with lots of acronyms, jargon, policies and documents. Data sheets and budgets can be very difficult to understand when seen for the first time.

Induction training should cover:

• the statutory responsibilities of governors
• the difference between being “strategic” (the role of governors) and being “operational” (the role of the headteacher and staff)
• introduction to budgets
• how to use and interpret school performance data
• staffing issues
• safeguarding children (if not covered in a separate course)
• how to ask challenging questions and when to offer support
• how to conduct school visits and get to know your individual school
• how to make an impact as a governor.

Do governors need Prevent duty training?

A separate article looks at Prevent duty training for governors. My interpretation of Keeping Children Safe in Education is that all governors need Prevent training.

Does the clerk need safeguarding or Prevent training?

Keeping Children Safe In Education states that all staff should receive safeguarding training, so if the clerk is a member of staff they should receive at least basic training in this area.

“All staff should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training which is regularly updated.

“In addition, all staff should receive safeguarding and child protection updates (for example, via email, e-bulletins and staff meetings), as required, and at least annually, to provide them with relevant skills and knowledge to safeguard children effectively.”

Keeping Children Safe In Education

Must we keep a record of governor training?

There’s no legal requirement to keep a training record but it is recommended. The record lets you ensure new governors receive appropriate training and keep track of any gaps in the board’s expertise.

OFSTED may ask to see this record and it’s also useful if you are evaluating the effectiveness of the board.

Governor Training Record Template

A downloadable, editable Word form to keep a record of governor training is available on my templates and letters page.

Here are some ways to tackle governor or trustee recruitment and fill the vacancies on your governing body.

1. Register for Governors for Schools (who used to be called the School Governors’ One-Stop Shop, SGOSS). This free service matches volunteers with appropriate schools. It is a registered charity.
   
   
2. Register with Inspiring Governance. They offer a very similar service to Governors for Schools, matching volunteers with vacancies. They are a charity funded by the Department for Education and run by the National Governance Association alongside Education and Employers.
   
   You can use the map tool from Inspiring Governance to see local vacancies. If someone applies through their website they will also receive access to expert guidance from the National Governance Association, including advice over the phone and email and a copy of their induction book, plus the chance to use their e-learning modules.
   
   
3. Contact Academy Ambassadors if you are a multi-academy trust. They help to find professionals with experience at a senior level in business, charity, a professional career or public work to service on trust boards.
   
   
4. If you are looking for someone with financial skills the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) allows you to list the vacancy and help you find a governor with accounting, finance or related experience.
   
   
5. Register with do-it.org.
   
   
6. Get in touch with your local council’s governor services department to ask if they know of any willing volunteers. They should have contact details on their website and will be listed under “governor services” or “governor support”.