Assignment - Steve Gullick 23/01/12

Due to Andy’s illness we are going to be provided with a number of guest speakers to discuss various topics with us concerning education until Andy’s return. Today’s guest speaker is called Steve Gullick, he based his lecture around the roles of the governing body within educational institutions. The governing body is made up of a number of categories of governors; they are unpaid however they can receive money for things such as travel costs. The different types of governors are parent governors, staff governors, community governors and authority governors. The department of Education (2012) states:

‘This helps ensure the governing body has sufficient diversity of views and experience but does not mean governors of a particular category represent that group on the governing body. For example, parent governors do not represent the parents at the school and do not report back to them.’

The role of the governors is to manage the schools budgets, promote high standards of educational achievements, make decisions concerning staff pay and school problems, it is also important that they focus on problems concerning the curriculum taught. By managing the school budget they would have to ensure that the money being given to the schools was being spent on necessities and instead of things that were not needed. It is also important that they focus on all problems that may arise within educational settings. All governors have the important role of choosing who would be appropriate to become a new head teacher; they also have a small input into the decision of new staff members. It is important that the governors partake in the decisions concerning new staff and headmasters as this whole process could be biased and affects fairness. The minimum number of governors is nine and the maximum is twenty, it is usual for governors to be appointed only for four years however this can later be renewed. I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture with Steve Gullick as it made me realise the importance of the governors it also showed me who would be in charge of our appointment if I was to apply as a teacher and also how much of an important factor they are to the running of school. The governors have an effect on the children within the schools because without their guidance and their control of finance, the pupils would not have the financial support to achieve and experience the best of their education.

Reference
Department of Education (2012) categories and roles of school governors Retrieved 16th April 2012 from http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/governance/a0056694/categories-and-roles-of-school-governors