School Governing Bodies in England Under Pressure: The Effects of Socio-economic Context and School Performance

Abstract

This article reports research into the nature and functioning of school governing bodies in different socio-economic and performance contexts. The research analysed 5000 responses from a national questionnaire-based survey and undertook 30 case studies of school governing. The research confirmed that school governing in England is a complex and onerous responsibility that places governing bodies under considerable pressure. The socio-economic and performance contexts can be particularly demanding additional pressures. Governing bodies interact with those contexts in a complex way which we explain using the notions of governance capital and governance agency. Governance capital is the network of individuals and their capabilities, relationships and motivations that are available for the governing of a school. It is likely to be greater for schools that: are well regarded; are in high socio-economic status settings; and have high levels of pupil attainment. These effects may add and mutually reinforce creating an 'amplifier effect', which may significantly impact on the governing of a school. Governance agency is the capacity of those involved in the governing of a school to act. It is significant; can ameliorate the effects of low governance capital; and complicates the relationship between governing, performance and socio-economic context.

A comparison of the governing of primary and secondary schools in England

“…In both types of school, recruitment could be more difficult in schools located in areas of socio-economic disadvantage such as S6 and P4, or in schools in very ethnically diverse settings, such as P2 and S13. Our interpretation here is that the resources of civil society for the governing of any particular school, which we have referred to as governance capital (James et al 2010(James et al , 2011, are powerfully influenced by the socio-economic context. The performance of the school and the esteem in which the school is held, which are images for governance, also impacted on recruitment.…”

School governor regulation in England’s changing education landscape

“…One such powerful one is that of 'the professional governor,' This term, although it appears with increasing regularity in parliamentary inquiries and the media, is used in very diverse ways: Often being employed by some to to mean someone from a business background (see for example Parliament, 2013aParliament, , 2013bParliament, , 2013c.While others-such as the National Governors Association (NGA)-argue that the term professional relates to the skills that governors posess rather than relating to their areas of employment. The confusion is in part due to a discourse of professionalism that appeared much earlier in accounts of governing by Angela Thody (Thody & Punter, 2000) and has been echoed in more recent parliamentary inquiries and reports (Wilkins, 2014,Carmichael & Wild, 2012James et al, 2011), in which governors with a business background do very often come with very valuable skills.…”

“…In both literature on school governance (Deem et al, 1995;James et al, 2011) and literature that looks at governing across the not-for-profit sector, (Cornforth, 2004;Cornforth & Edwards, 1999), one of the primary sources of reference us the CEO (in corporate terms) or the head teacher in educational contexts. Reports and surveys into the area of school governance still show that in spite of all external data now available to schools from organisations such as The National Governor Association or The Key for School Governors (https://schoolgovernors.thekeysupport.com/),there is still ample evidence to suggest that head teachers (and their senior teams) exert considerable influence on both governor decisions and the ways in which governors perceive their role and function (Balarin, Brammer, James, & McCormack, 2008;Baxter & Wise, 2013;Hill & James, 2014;James et al, 2013) .Drawing on this evidence this study investigates head teacher discourses on accountability, viewing these as strong influences upon governors, and concomitantly on governing bodies.…”

Trends in the Governance of Education in the UK

“…Many of those developments in governance have had and will continue to have important implications for the governance of the education system at a local level. Those changes and rising expectations of schools and colleges exert substantial pressures -for example, in the governing of individual schools (James et al 2011) and governance at the local level. An analysis of the governance of education in the UK is thus highly appropriate for this journal.…”

“…Nevertheless, more recent discussions about educational governance have tended to focus on particular governance aspects, such as the formal structures of school governing bodies in England (see, for example, James et al 2011) and the intrusion of the private sector into state-funded education (for example Ball 2007). This focus has neglected two important facets.…”