By Hannah Jolliffe

Think of a school governor and what image comes to mind? Someone who has children, or who has experience working with them? Someone a bit older, probably middle class, with lots of time on their hands?

According to Steve Acklam, Chief Executive of School Governors' One-Stop-Shop, an organisation that finds people with transferable skills to volunteer as governors, the popular image is misleading. "We deal with all these misconceptions about what a governor should be. In reality, as long as you are 18 or over and you care about children you can be a governor," he says.

"It's important that a school's board of governors has a good blend of experiences, backgrounds, skills and aspirations, and that it's representative of the community that the school serves. There's an ideal blend of how all these things should combine on a governing body, but there isn't an ideal person."

Breaking the stereotype

Kate Bishop has just started a voluntary role on the board of governors at Holly Spring Junior School in Bracknell, and highlights exactly why you don't need to fit the stereotype. Kate is the Head of HR for computer retail giant, Dell; she's a young professional woman with no children and no previous experience working with them. What she does have, however, is heaps of transferable skills and an exceptional insight into how governance can benefit organisations.

"Understanding how governance works is important to any organisation – whether it be a private company or a school," she says. "The school needs to know when it should be making changes internally and when to rely on the Local Education Authority (LEA).

"I help to bring an outside perspective on how things are done in private industry. I also offer a more neutral view as I can remain a bit more detached than the parents and teachers.

"In our last meeting we were looking at our spending priorities. The school needs a new roof and new windows, but may not have the money for both. There are funding initiatives for schools that are reducing their energy consumption, so the governors need to be aware of these and make sure they are being linked up. So, in this instance, it might be better to fix the roof first in order to prove we are taking measures to reduce energy consumption. These are the kind of decisions that reflect the work that I do every day at Dell."

The governor's role and responsibilities

Although there's no such thing as a typical governor, there will be similar tasks to fulfil from one school to the next. The average volunteer gives six to eight hours a month, mostly spent in meetings. You'll normally find that the main governing body meets no more than once a month, and there will be sub-committees looking into key areas such as finance, HR and curriculum. Most governors join one sub-committee, depending on their skills, and again these meet no more than once a month.

"The governance will differ in terms of frequency between well performing schools and badly performing schools," explains Steve Acklam. "The issues aren't necessarily different in struggling schools but they are more urgent and need more attention. Ofsted identified that a good school is likely to have an effective governing body – good governance is relevant and necessary however well the school is performing because you're still looking to the future."

Career development

As well as the schools benefiting from the input of governors, it's clear that the volunteers get a lot out of it themselves.

Kate says she got involved because she has aspirations to a governance role at work someday. "I decided that being a school governor would be really useful experience for my personal career development," she says. "I think governance should be sold into companies more as a means of developing your career. It's a great opportunity for me to feel like I can contribute with my existing skills as well as getting something back myself."

If all governors' experiences were as positive as Kate's, you'd imagine volunteers would be queuing up for the chance to get involved. Yet, apparently, 10% of all places are vacant at one time – a total of 40,000 vacancies.

Steve Acklam says this is down to people's circumstances changing and the school and LEA having inadequate resources to process applications fast enough. Essentially, though, he agrees with Kate about 'selling in' this opportunity to private companies and he's passionate about how employers can benefit from encouraging their staff to turn to governance.

"Their staff will gain skills that they won't develop as quickly in a structured corporate environment. On a governing body you get a really broad perspective of HR, planning, finance. You're also making some very important decisions, learning about team work and social skills. It's positive PR for the company and helps to retain employees if you have a social side that encourages volunteering. You'll also make positive links with the local community."

As a volunteer governor you can also expect to get a lot of support and training – even more reason for it to boost those CVs. The LEA runs a governor induction course, as well as free training sessions on different areas, such as finance and law. You could also be offered a buddy governor when you first start the role, and if you move to a new area and are looking for a new opportunity, the School Governors One-Stop Shop are always on hand to help you out. 

So if you're not already skilled up, there's scope to learn on the job. As Acklam says: "We always say to people who don't think they have any obvious skills that as long as they have a desire to help children get the best start, they should think about being a governor."

Search the do-it.org.uk database  for school governor volunteering opportunities in your area.

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