There are a range of governor types or categories and each school has a mixture of them. The exact make-up of the governing body will depend on what type of school or academy is involved.
This page explains how school governing bodies are formed.
Constitution of Maintained School Governing Bodies
A single maintained school (in other words, a school that is not legally joined to other schools in a federation) must have a minimum of seven governors, with no maximum number. These requirements come from the Constitution (England) Regulations 2012.
A single maintained school governing body must include:
- the headteacher governor (if the head chooses to be a governor)
- at least two parent governors
- only one staff governor
- only one local authority (LA) governor
- any number of co-opted governors.
Some schools also have either foundation or partnership governors, depending on the type of school – foundation governors are often found in faith schools, for example. There are some very specific rules on how many foundation and partnership governors a school can have in section 14 of the 2012 constitution regulations.
A federated maintained school must also have a minimum of seven governors and no maximum, but the types of governor on the board are slightly different.
The requirements for federated schools are from the Federations (England) 2012 law, as amended by the Constitution and Federations (England) 2016 law.
Note that the requirement to have only two parent governors comes from the 2016 amendment, as the 2012 law said there should be one parent governor from each school in the federation.
A federated school governing body must include:
- the headteacher of each school in the federation (if the heads choose to be governors)
- only two parent governors
- only one staff governor
- only one LA governor
- any number of co-opted governors (bearing in mind that some federations that include foundation and voluntary schools must have a majority of foundation governors)
- foundation or partnership governors if they are a particular type of school (eg: church school).
The different types of governor are all explained below. To check what the composition of a maintained school board is you will need to see the school’s instrument of government which lists the number of governors from each category.
Constitution of Academy Governing Bodies
Current model articles of association (2021) for academies place few restrictions on the make-up of academy trust boards, but say that boards must include:
- the principal (headteacher) if they choose to be a trustee and the members have decided to appoint them as one
- at least two elected parent trustees (multi-academy trusts can have two elected parents on each local governing body). Parent trustees can be appointed if not enough volunteers stand for election
- any number of co-opted trustees, as long as no more than one-third of the board is employed by the trust.
You will need to check the articles of association for a specific academy to see exactly how many trustees of each type are on the board. Each academy trust can choose to modify the model articles and the government have published several versions over the years.
Depending on their type, trustees can be elected (parent trustees), appointed by a foundation, sponsor or religious body (foundation or sponsor trustees) or appointed by the trustees themselves (co-opted trustees).
If a multi-academy trust has local governing bodies these local governors will either be elected by parents or staff, appointed by trustees or appointed by the local governors themselves. Check terms of reference for the specific local governing body to find the rules for each academy.
Academy members are known as the guardians of the trust and can appoint some of the trustees. They have a limited role in checking that governance is strong.
All Types of Governor Have the Same Role
It is important to remember that governors are not on the governing body to serve as a delegate for a particular group of stakeholders.
It is therefore not the job of the parent governor to argue in favour of whatever the parents want, or the staff governor to argue for whatever the staff want. These governors are not on the board to speak and vote on behalf of the parents or staff.
It is the job of every governor to argue for whatever is best for the children at the school. This is made clear in statutory guidance to the law for maintained schools.
“The governing body must operate, collectively, in the best interest of pupils, not as a collection of individuals lobbying for the interests of the constituency from which they were elected or appointed.”
Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools: Statutory Guidance
It is also confirmed in the governors’ code of conduct from the National Governance Association, the national support organisation for school governors, which asks new members of any governing body to sign up to the following statement.
“We will act in the best interests of the school as a whole and not as a representative of any group, even if elected to the governing board.”
National Governance Association Code of Conduct
I’ve sometimes seen this “explained” to potential governors with the phrase: “Parent governors are not parents’ representatives – they are representative parents” which is as clear as mud in my opinion.
It’s supposed to convey that parents are stakeholders in the school and therefore should be part of its governing body without being the parents’ mouthpiece, but I’m sure it just causes confusion.
A better way to think about it is that the type of governor you are reflects the way you gained your place on the governing body – parent governors are (most often) elected by other parents, staff governors are elected by staff and so on.
However, once you are on the governing body your aims are the same as every other governor around the table.
The only exception to this rule is that foundation (and some partnership) governors have an additional responsibility to safeguard the particular character of a school, which is usually a religious character in a faith school, so they do have a slightly different role to other governors (although they also have all the usual responsibilities of a governor as well).
What are the voting rights of each governor?
Every governor has one vote. This applies whether they are a parent, staff governor, co-opted, headteacher or any other kind of governor and whether they are in a maintained school or academy.
It’s that simple because every governor has equal status (with limited special powers for the chair of governors in maintained schools). The only exception is that when a vote is tied the chair of the meeting has a casting vote. (Another article covers voting procedures.)
Associate members cannot vote at full governing body meetings in maintained schools, but can vote on committees if governors have given them the power to do so. The rules for voting at academy committees, including local governing bodies, are set by each academy trust.
All governors and associate members must leave the room and not vote if they have a conflict of interest which means they cannot be objective. For example, if the governor runs a building firm and the school is considering taking out a contract with that firm, the governor must withdraw from the meeting.
Types of Maintained School Governor
All of the appointed (as opposed to elected) governor types below can only be appointed if they have “the skills required to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school”.
It is a legal requirement that appointed parents, LA governors, partnership governors, foundation governors and co-opted governors are all appointed based on skills. This rule is from the Constitution 2012 Regulations (as amended in 2014).
Parent governor – anyone whose child is attending the school can stand for election as a parent governor. They are elected by other parents (or elected unopposed if there is only one volunteer). You cannot be a parent governor if you work for the school for more than 500 hours “in any 12 consecutive months” or you are an elected member of the local authority.
There must be at least two parent governors in a single maintained school but federated schools can have only two. A separate article gives more details on who is eligible to be a parent governor in terms of step-parents, grandparents and other carers.
If there are no volunteers from parents of registered pupils then parent governors can be appointed by the governing body rather than elected, because at this stage any parent of a former registered pupil or a parent of any child of compulsory school age or below becomes eligible for the role. (Community and foundation special schools must appoint parents with experience of SEN children.)
Headteacher governor – the headteacher automatically qualifies for a place on the governing body. Because their role comes with the job they are known as “ex officio” governors, which means someone who is on the board “by virtue of their office”. They can choose not to be a governor if they wish and lose their governor role when they leave their job.
Staff governor – anyone who is employed by the school can be a staff governor. They do not have to be a teacher (but often are) and are elected by other members of staff. A separate article gives more details on who is eligible to be the staff governor.
There is only ever one staff governor in a maintained school, although school employees can also serve as co-opted, parent and foundation governors, with some restrictions.
If a co-opted governor is a school employee, when counted with the headteacher and staff governor the total number of school employees on the board must not equal more than a third of the governors in post. Parent governors cannot work for the school for more than 500 hours per year.
Local authority governor – a person who is nominated by the local authority (LA) but appointed by the governing body in a vote.
The governing body has a right to set additional eligibility criteria for this role if they wish, with the only restriction in law being that the LA governor cannot be a school employee. They can only be removed by the local authority, not governors themselves. There is only one LA governor.
LA governors are not political appointments and are not on the board to take the side of the local authority.
Co-opted governors – this is a general category for any volunteer. They used to be called community governors, ie: anyone from the local community. They are appointed by existing governors in a vote.
A school can have an unlimited number of co-opted governors unless they are a foundation or voluntary school, when they may be required to have a majority of foundation governors on the board.
Although there is no limit on the number of co-opted governors, be aware that if a co-opted governor is employed by the school you must ensure that when counted with the headteacher and the staff governor, the total number of school employees on the board does not equal more than a third of the governors in post.
For example, if you had nine governors in total you could only appoint one co-opted governor who worked for the school, because the headteacher plus the staff governor plus one co-opted governor equals one third of the governing body (three out of nine).
Partnership governor – appointed in faith schools to ensure that the religious character of the school is preserved and developed, but can also be found in some non-religious schools.
Foundation governor – appointed by any body other than the local authority, for example the founding body of the school or a church. There are also “ex officio” foundation governors because the governor role is attached to their job (often the parish priest).
Associate members – someone who is not a governor and cannot vote at meetings of the full governing body, but can attend any meeting of the governing body and serve and vote on committees.
Associate members can be pupils in secondary schools but they can only vote if they are over 18. There is no lower age limit so technically primary school pupils could be associate members as well, but this would be impractical.
School employees are also eligible to be associate members and there is no limit to the total number of associates permitted.
Associate members can be excluded from meetings when governors are talking about a named staff member or pupil. The extent of their voting rights on any committee are decided by the governing body.
Observers – this term is not used in law but some schools use it to mean a person who has a standing invitation to attend full meetings and take part in discussions but not vote.
For example, if you do not wish the deputy headteacher to be an associate member but you do want her to attend meetings you could classify her as an observer.