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Background
School governors are one of the country's largest voluntary
groups with around 345,000 school governors contributing to
strategic development and raising standards of achievement at over 30,000 schools.
School governors are members of their school's governing body
which is a "corporate body". A corporate body has a legal identity
that is separate from its members and as a result, individual governors
are generally protected from personal liability as a result of the governing
body's decisions and actions, provided they act honestly, reasonably and in
good faith.
Individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of
the governing body except where the whole governing body has delegated
a specific function to that individual or where regulations specify that
a function is to be exercised in a particular way.
School governors are drawn from different parts of the community, such
as parents, the Staff, the Local Education Authority, the Community and
other groups. This helps to ensure that the governing body has sufficient
diversity of views and experience but does not mean that governors of a
particular category "represent" that group on the governing body. For
example, Parent Governors do not act as a representative of the parents
at the school and do not report back to them.
Responsibilities
The governing body has a range of duties and powers and a general
responsibility for the conduct of the school with a view to promoting
high standards of educational achievement including setting targets
for pupil achievement, managing the school's finances, making sure
the curriculum is balanced and broadly based, appointing staff and
reviewing staff performance and pay and many more.
The governing body has considerable discretion as to how to discharge
its responsibilities but is required to constitute itself in line with
the regulations and to appoint a chair and vice chair. The governing
body may delegate certain of its responsibilities to certain governors
or committees of governors, although in general, it is not compelled
to do so.
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