My background and interest are in supporting schools categorised as stuck (Spielman 2019) in Special Measures. I research the impact of the Community Governor on school improvement in this context. The BELMAS-sponsored governance research project is important because there is a synergy in identifying governors' roles such as governors who are teaching/academic staff, to reflect on their impact and value in governance through the capture of their views and voice.
Bernadette Reilly
Doctoral Student
The research reflects on educators' professional status in educational governance across all settings. In schools, the academization policy DfE 2010-11 changed the governor's accountability for school improvement, removing parents, teachers and the community, from any form of contribution to the direction of school improvement. The role of Ofsted is monitoring performance in strategic planning and holding the school's head to account. A similar climate of performativity exists in colleges through Ofsted and university frameworks (TEF). Government policy is exclusive, excluding governor agency and capital creating passivity in governing. The academisation initiative has chosen to develop a ‘corporate governance model' with non-executive boards, often in other parts of the country, removing power from communities, raising concerns of inequality about ineffective democratic governance. Research indicates there is a gap in the understanding of the differing roles of governors within governing bodies. This lack of awareness of the factors that act on decision making in developing effective institutional improvement leads to ineffective governance.
The research project aims to explore academic staff governors' power relations; individual professional affiliations, their status in their governing roles and the knowledge and skill set of the governors deferred to by the other governors at the institutions.
Communities of Practice
In providing a safe platform for governors to share knowledge and experience, I have explored Communities of Practice, defined as Situated Learning and Legitimate Peripheral Participation merging concepts of identity, community, learning and social practice (Lave and Wenger 1991). This can be expressed as participators committed to a common interest, who learn by engaging and contributing to the practice of governance, through experience, and passion. Here individuals learn from each other through active participation. There is equitable mutual learning and sharing of corporate knowledge through governor collaboration. One may envisage, such learning with peers as community learning, refining practice and transferring knowledge between the community in dynamic increasingly complex thinking processes. Community learning may pervade the setting and wider community building increasingly complex knowledge capacity, sustaining new knowledge, and building confidence and value as an organisation (Lave and Wenger 1991). Thinking about learning as a social practice feels clear in its logic and construction for governors grappling with dynamic complex critical thinking in decision making. Placing the governor at the centre encourages learning situated in social participation as a conduit for growth, propagating successful democratic learning. There are challenges to the conception of social participatory learning, but the model offers opportunities for fresh eyes for governors and may offer a way in turning the tide on the mass exodus of disillusioned volunteer governors. There are also questions of policy and intersections of power that act as limiting factors on ASGs' capital and agency (James 2011). An open collaborative engagement may provide a platform to explore feelings about governance moving into effective action. I am looking to develop my research skills in collaboration with the project's colleagues, and raise awareness about the importance of governance frameworks within education in building capacity and improvement.
Bibliography
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- DfE 2017 A Competency Framework for Governance The knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for effective governance in maintained schools, academies and multi-academy trusts January 2017
- DfE 2019 Governance handbook For academies, multi-academy trusts and maintained schools March 2019
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