There is no statutory requirement for governing bodies to have a code of conduct for governors or trustees, but many schools find a code of conduct useful in order to set expectations on behaviour and explain the role.
It can also be useful if a governor causes problems at a later stage because the governing body can point to the values the governor agreed to uphold when they joined the board and signed up to the code of conduct.
If necessary the code can also form part of the evidence needed when considering suspending or removing a governor.
The DfE Governance Guides for maintained schools and academies recommend that governing bodies set up a code of conduct.
“Effective governing bodies create and maintain a code of conduct which is agreed by all governors.”
DfE Maintained Schools Governance Guide
“Effective boards create and maintain a code of conduct.”
DfE Academy Trust Governance Guide
The Governance Guides also say that a governor/trustee who “persistently fails to attend training or development” may be in breach of the code and it “may be necessary to consider their position”.
A code of conduct can explain the main governor responsibilities: the ethos, vision and strategic direction of the school, holding the headteacher to account and financial oversight.
It can also clarify frequent areas of confusion such as the difference between the strategic role of governors and the day-to-day, operational role of the headteacher.
Bear in mind that codes of conduct do not carry any legal weight. A code is a set of expectations but it cannot over-ride the law that maintained schools must follow, or articles of association for academies.
For example, a maintained school could write in their code of conduct that governors must attend every single meeting without fail, but if a governor was missing meetings you would have no legal power to disqualify them unless they missed a full six months of meetings.
Model Code Of Conduct
The National Governance Association (NGA) produce a model code of conduct which they provide free to all schools, whether they are members of the NGA or not.
Two versions of the code are provided, one for maintained schools and one for academy trusts.
Visit NGA Website To Download Model Codes of Conduct
The NGA recommend that the whole board review and agree the code annually in the first meeting of the academic year. It’s probably not a good idea to hand this document to a brand new governor without any further explanation as the long list of expectations could be quite daunting.
“Boards should review and approve their code of conduct annually, ideally at the first meeting of the autumn term. When reviewing your code, reflect on the events of the previous year and consider if any changes are required as a result.”
National Governance Association
Should all governors sign the code of conduct?
The NGA code only contains space for the chair’s signature, because the expectation is that once the code of conduct has been agreed by the full governing body then all governors are bound by it.
“Once this code has been adopted by the governing board, all members agree to faithfully abide by it.”
National Governance Association
Despite this I would recommend asking all governors to sign the code individually. If a governor breaches the code and is challenged they may try to argue that they did not personally agree to abide by it.
That would not be true, even if the governor did not attend the specific meeting where the code was adopted, because governing bodies make decisions collectively and governors must always enact the decisions of the majority.
However, it makes a difficult conversation easier if you can prove that the governor in question did sign the code themselves. If you use GovernorHub governors can sign up to the code electronically.