School governors and academies

whitewave's question about the democratic process - frankly I do not think this government is remotely interested in the democratic process.

I do agree that sometimes people who put themselves forward as parent governors do not realise the extent of their duties beforehand - they get a bit of a shock, as indeed we all do!

I also agree that the word from the school gate is a useful contribution to management decisions; but also agree that some parents think it is just a step on from the PTA - now PSA!! - let's get the jargon right!

The role of a parent governor is a hard one, as they are expected to feed back the word from the school gate, but can feed nothing else back in the other direction, because of confidentiality - it can put them in a difficult situation on some occasions.

I do understand though that governing bodies need the right skills now that their role is so complex and all-consuming since the death of any vestige of useful LA Education departments. We are lucky at our school in having an excellent spread of skills with backgrounds in accountancy, social services, teaching and school inspection - but this is pure chance, and frankly a bit of a miracle in such a small community! But if schools are struggling to find the skills they need, then I can understand that they might wish to use a parent governor space to recruit a suitably experienced finance person for example.

Governors will have the special skill of being business people who are in bed with the academy trust and will sell them all sorts of stuff and get paid handsomely out of taxpayers money.

I was a parent Governor back in the day.
I knew I wasnt as clever as some, but equally I knew parents wanted me there. I knew what was going on at the school gate and that is definitely important too.

I was a school governor for 20 years. My experience of many parent governors was that they were very enthusiastic to join the governing body but many shirked making serious decisions such as having to make staff redundant. While many were dedicated to improving the school there were also those who were simply more interested in finding out what was going on. Some viewed it as a natural progression from the PTA but had not anticipated the differences and the responsibilities involved.
I also worked in education and think the destruction of the LEAs is a backward step. The lions between schools and the role of a good subject adviser are much missed.