New film on the role of school governors and trustees

The National Governance Association has launched a new animated film to explain the role of governors and trustees in helping schools and trusts succeed, following research which shows that schools face major challenges in recruiting governance volunteers.

The film has been produced as part of NGA’s Visible Governance campaign. First launched in 2020, the campaign aims to highlight the huge contribution to the education system that governing boards play, shining a light on the difference that good governance makes to the success of schools and trusts and encouraging more people to govern.

Findings from the 2022 annual governance survey shows that schools and trusts in England are facing major challenges in recruiting governance volunteers, with 67 per cent of governing boards reporting at least one vacancy and of these, 38 percent reporting they have two or more vacancies. The findings shows that vacancies are at their highest since 2016.

Recruitment is also becoming more challenging, with two thirds of respondents (63%) reporting that they faced issues compared to 55 per cent in 2019 - an increase of 8 percentage points. Overall, NGA estimates there are currently more than 20,000 vacancies.

The research also shows that the number of governors and trustees under 40 was just 6 per cent - the lowest on record since 2015. Half of governors and trustees are over 60 years (51 per cent) but just 1 per cent were under 30.  Schools and trusts benefit hugely from the experience of older governors and trustees, but without younger volunteers also joining boards, schools are missing the input of those who have recently experienced school.

Emma Knights, CEO of the National Governance Association said: “School and trust governance needs to be recognised and celebrated for its positive role in ensuring pupils and staff can flourish. Huge thanks are owed to all those committed volunteers carrying out this role with such care and reflection without a song and a dance. These findings make for sobering reading: schools need more good people and we need to get the message out far and wide to engage the thousands we need to fill governance roles. This is why we have launched a new film today explaining what school governors and trustees do and their role in helping our schools to succeed.”