Potential School Governors Daunted by Workload

Potential School Governors Daunted by Workload: According to a new study, thousands of schools are without governors and potential candidates are being put off by the size of the workload that they would be asked to commit to. The research, conducted by The Independent, has shown that a quarter (27%) of academies have struggled to find new school governors since opting to move to academy status. However, according to the National Governors’ Association, the problem is not limited to academies and state-funded schools are also struggling to attract governors.

Potential School Governors Daunted by Workload

Potential School Governors Daunted by Workload

A charity set up specifically to promote governing schools has suggested that around one in ten positions is vacant across the country – amounting to somewhere in the region of 30,000 positions being unfilled. The figures come in the wake of the ‘Trojan Horse’ allegations in Birmingham, where it is suggested some school governors (from both state and academy schools) have tried to promote hard-line Islamists in to positions of power.

According to figures from UHY Hacker Young, a firm which audits academy accounts, around 20% of academy governors quits before the end of their four year term of opts not to renew their position. A tenth of schools surveyed said that they would consider paying governors if rules against paying non-staff were lifted.

The National Governors Association has shown that two thirds of schools agreed that they were having difficulties in filling vacancies for governors – 7,700 schools completed the survey. The NGA also argued that the problem was worse in state-funded schools than in academies. However, it should be noted that this may in part be due to the fact that primary schools – which are less likely to be academies – struggle more with recruiting governors due to a smaller catchment area.

A spokeswoman from the Department for Education stated that governors, and the role they performed, were now more vital than ever.

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