ࡱ > bjbj 4* r r r ; F r ^ r r r - r 4 r u 6 PI ;% 4 0 r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r : FE Staff Governors Conference, 3 December 2009 Workshops Group B LSIS guidance The group began by discussing the LSIS guidance document. Most members found it useful. They welcomed the acknowledgement that staff governors had the same status, rights and responsibilities as other governors. This led on to a discussion of the experience of being a staff governor. Most members of the group felt that they were treated as full members of the governing body, but that they faced special challenges. They needed to feel able to criticise senior managers and the principal without fear of undermining their own jobs and careers. This depended on creating a situation in which they were seen by fellow governors as another governor of equal status, not as an employee. It was important to develop relations with the other governors and to speak on a range of issues and not just on staff issues. Dont let yourself be labelled narrowly by the other governors talk to them. The extent and quality of training for new governors varied. One member said that he had been provided with an experienced governor to act as a mentor and also with a senior management mentor of his choice. It was important to make use of the clerk, including as a source of information and advice in advance of meetings. There was also some agreement that the status and effectiveness of staff governors might be improved if they were specifically included in Ofsted inspections. Some members believed that inspectors should meet separately with staff governors, others that inspectors should include staff governors in meetings with the chairs of the main sub-committees and the principal. The group then discussed their role in relation to the staff of their colleges. Were they representative of and accountable to the staff? Should they report back to staff and invite their views? This elicited a range of views. Some members insisted that under the articles of governance they were not representative but were independent with an overriding duty to act in the interests of the college and not in the interests of any particular constituency. They should not therefore report back to staff or take up issues on their behalf. Others felt that, within the rules of confidentiality, they did at least have a role in helping to keep staff informed of governing body discussions and decisions. Also, although they were not union representatives, they might inform their unions of governing body business provided that it was in the public domain. Exclusion of staff governors It was agreed that the LSIS guidance was useful on the issue of the grounds on which staff governors could be asked to withdraw from meetings for particular agenda items. The experience among the group differed markedly in this area. There were instances of members not being told the reasons for their exclusion. It was agreed that the grounds should always be made clear. There were examples of members being excluded from membership of certain governing body committees, including HR, remuneration and finance and strategy; but also examples of inclusion in such committees or of exclusion from some decision-making but not from membership. Many seemed to be excluded from discussion of the setting of senior post salary levels, although it was not clear why, since such salary levels were usually public (as opposed to the salaries of individuals). Some differences in practice might be attributable to differences in the governance model in use, but there were also examples of clerks interpreting the articles in significantly different ways. It was suggested that a code of practice on the circumstances in which it was legitimate to exclude staff governors would be helpful. The question was also raised about how and to whom staff governors should complain if they believed that they had been wrongly excluded. Paid governors? Most members of the group were opposed to the suggestion that governors of FE colleges should be remunerated. It was pointed out that they were charitable trustees. Also, it was not acceptable for governors to receive pay at a time when staff were being made redundant. It governors were to be paid, levels would have to be set nationally at a level affordable by all colleges, otherwise poorer colleges would not be able to match the rates offered by the better off colleges. Current issues for governing bodies There was concern that some governing bodies were ill-equipped to understand what was involved in the expansion of HE in FE, in particular the support required in the form of libraries, laboratories, etc. Also, members reported a lack of preparedness by governing bodies for the machinery of government changes, although this was not necessarily their fault since there continued to be a lack of clear information about the changes. The problem was compounded by uncertainties about future funding, which tended to deter both colleges and local authorities from entering into any firm commitments. The group also discussed some practical governance issues such as whether role descriptions for governors would be useful. The general response to this suggestion was positive, some members feeling that role descriptions would be particularly useful for the chair and clerk of governing bodies and the chairs of sub-committees. It was essential to make clear that the clerk was accountable to the governing body and not to management. Recruitment to governing bodies was a problem in some areas and different methods of recruitment were used. Some members of the group had become staff governors through their union involvement, others through competitive elections, and some by volunteering for uncontested positions. The composition of governing bodies often did not reflect the functions of the college (especially those covering a very wide range of subjects and activities) or the diversity of the local community. However, there was agreement that most colleges were making real efforts to increase the ethnic diversity and improve the gender balance of their governing bodies. 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