Inspiring Governors Alliance urges more professionals to volunteer
Education boards, young people and businesses would benefit greatly if more professionals volunteered as schools governors, a panel of experts said at the CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition 2014.
Katerina Rudiger, head of skills and policy campaigns at the CIPD, said it was vital that organisations encouraged employees to volunteer in the community and share their professional knowledge with the next generation of workers.
“Historically the employer’s voice was missing in the ‘education into work’ debate, and we want to change that,” she said.
Speaking at the event, representatives from the Department for Education (DfE), National Governors Association (NGA) and the Education and Employers Taskforce collectively called for more professionals to become school governors to “allow businesses to forge important links with the world of education”.
Becoming a governor provides those taking part with a unique development opportunity and a chance to gain skills in a strategic leadership role, Rudiger added.
In May this year, the CIPD supported the launch of the Inspiring Governors Alliance which aims to bridge the gap between education and work. It ties in with the CIPD’s Learning to Work programme, which promotes greater levels of employer engagement with young people.
More than 2,000 HR professionals have already signed up to the CIPD’s ‘Inspiring the Future’ initiative which allows volunteers to sign up to deliver one-off careers insight talks or CV and interview advice sessions with young people.
However a report from the University of Bath and NGA revealed that some schools were struggling to attract governors with the right skills. The panel called for more high calibre candidates to sign up to volunteer.
“To be honest, school governance is not in bad shape,” said Chris James, professor of educational leadership and management at the University of Bath. “But recruiting governors is hardest where you most need them and we would be in a much better place if recruitment was easier.”
“School governing brings the worlds of education and non-education together,” he said.
Duncan Haworth, NGA chair, said: “There are plenty of nuances between governing a school and governing a small business, and in some ways you could compare running a school to running a small business. The head teacher is the CEO and the school governors the executive board.”
Chris Caroe, head of the School Governance Unit at the DfE, added: “It’s not just a case of better corporate social responsibility; it is a real learning and development opportunity for professionals to gain board-level experience. For example in skills such as staff planning, performance related pay, setting KPIs and managing school transitions.”