Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw unveiled the plans during his monthly commentary – a new initiative he is using to comment on key issues in education.
In a seven-page essay, he raises the question of whether the chair and vice-chair of governing bodies should be paid in a bid to attract more capable professionals to the role.
He is concerned that last year there were nearly 500 schools where inspectors were “so concerned about the performance of the governing board that they called for outside experts to be drafted in to carry out an urgent external review of governance”.
He continued: “When leadership and management of a school are judged to be ineffective, entrenched weak governance is invariably one of the underlying reasons. Time and again in these cases, inspectors come across the same type of issues.”
These issues, he said, include a lack of professional knowledge or educational background meaning governors cannot challenge the school leadership effectively, a lack of training, a “lack of curiosity”, and too heavy a focus on marginal issues such as school uniform or food.
He added: “Depressingly, we often find the weakest governance operating in the most challenging schools in the poorest areas of the country – the very schools that stand to gain most from strong, professional and forensic governance and are least able to muddle through when this is absent.”
The survey will report next year and is to examine the mix of skills on governing bodies, whether these skills are enough, and whether intervention comes early enough when governing bodies are struggling.
It will also look at the guidance and support governors receive, succession planning, and other areas.
The review is also to “assess whether the time has now arrived to make provision for paid governance”.
The survey has been welcomed by education unions, although Sir Michael has been warned that there is simply not enough money in the system to begin paying thousands of governing body chairs and vice-chairs.
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, warned against a “knee-jerk” response and said that paying governors would hit frontline teaching.
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, raised similar concerns and called for a focus on more effective training.
She also urged Sir Michael to ensure his investigation includes governance in academy schools. She added: “Unlike maintained schools, academies have substantial discretion over the ways in which governance is undertaken and some schools and multi-academy trusts have used this freedom to establish opaque and ambiguous governance structures that undermine effective internal school accountability.”
The National Association of Head Teachers, Association of School and College Leaders, and National Governors’ Association recently published a best practice document for school governance. This is available at http://bit.ly/21cfPDt