But you do need to watch\nthat \u2018hand\u2019. You do not have to spend long in the company of a group \u2013\ngaggle, gang, gallop? \u2013 of school governors before you will hear one of\nthem mutter sagely, \u201cWhat you have to remember is, eyes on, hands off.\u201d\nThe speaker may tap the side of his or her nose as if these four words\nhave profound meaning and manage to sum up neatly and memorably the\nwhole business of being a governor, but it\u2019s a bit of a secret.<\/p>\n\n\n
What\n does a governor do? \u2018Eyes on, hands off\u2019. That\u2019s what they do \u2013 they\nwatch, they observe, they notice, possibly from some distance, but\nalways with a benign and parental interest, so they know what\u2019s going\non. And it is also what they don\u2019t do, which is to act, to interfere.\n\u2018Hands off\u2019 \u2013 sorry mate, you\u2019re only a governor. On reflection, it\nsounds a little like being a godparent, who signs up at the font to\nwatching over the spiritual welfare of the godchild, but probably would\nnot dare to act for the child in any way which parents would perceive as\n interfering. Fine lines to be negotiated, tightropes to be walked.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cSupporting,\n encouraging, making that which is desirable and possible a reality,\noverseeing the effective education of pupils \u2013 as my handbook reminds\nme, it\u2019s extremely rewarding.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\nMy first\nventure on to a governing body was as a staff member in a newly hatched\ngrant-maintained school, one of the first 30-odd schools nationally to\nmake that jump out of local authority control. The new status allowed\nthe school to stay a grammar school in the midst of comprehensivisation\nall around it. The new status required a governing body including staff\nmembers, not an easy adjustment on either side.<\/p>\n\n\n
I found it\nbaffling. When a curriculum issue was being discussed, I did not\nunderstand how the views I expressed had no more weight than those of a\nfellow governor who was a dentist with a daughter in the sixth form. I\nbelieved that my views were better informed and therefore more\nimportant, which drew the retort, \u201cYes, well you would think that.\u201d I\nalso recall being asked to \u201cstop thinking like a teacher, you\u2019re a\ngovernor now\u201d. So now, what does the dentist have to say?<\/p>\n\n\n
I had\nnot at that time heard the \u2018hands off\u2019 instruction and would have found\nit hard to obey if I had. After all, as a member of staff, I was having\nto do the \u2018hands on\u2019 stuff every day. And it was very clear that I was a\n governor, but not to represent the staff so there were no points at\nwhich I could report to my colleagues on a governing meeting. Keeping a\ngrip on what was repeatable and what was super-confidential was never\neasy.<\/p>\n\n\n
My next encounter with a governing body was in an\nindependent school where I was the Deputy Head. Unusually at the time,\nthe Head wanted the Deputy to attend governors\u2019 meetings on the very\nsensible basis of the Deputy needing to know as much as the Head did\nabout the running of the school in the unlikely event of her sudden\ndeparture. For me, in this case, it was, \u2018Eyes on, hands off, mouth\nshut\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n
When I asked the Head about contributing to the\ngovernors\u2019 discussions, I was told that as Deputy, my views would, of\ncourse, be the same as hers, and they did not need to be expressed\ntwice. Years later, my path crossed that of the Chairman, who remarked\nthat back in the day, governors had never understood why I made so\nlittle contribution to their meetings. They had been baffled by my\nsilence. At the time, none of them asked why. And I had not complained.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cThere are great pleasures in governorship, as I have discovered. In particular, do not underestimate the invitations.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\nFinally,\n out of the classroom, the Head\u2019s office and the bigger arena of the\nBoarding Schools\u2019 Association, I was invited to join the governors of a\nstate primary school and of an independent school. Happily, their dates\nhave not yet clashed, not even for carol services, so I have been able\nto attend the kinds of events at which most staff see you and realise\nthat you do have a genuine interest in the school.<\/p>\n\n\n
My two schools \u2013\n the possessive pronoun comes very quickly \u2013 are in different worlds but\n the same anxieties and concerns crop up. And in response, you can feel,\n in both rooms, a wish to be helpful, as if collectively the assembled\ngovernors are wanting to ask the staff present, \u201cHow can I help? What do\n you want of me? What\u2019s the most important thing on your horizon? What\nis your worst fear?\u201d As a Bursar of mine used to say, \u201cWhich is the wolf\n nearest the sledge?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
There was once a TV ad in which the refrain encouraging the audience to buy a low-calorie drink went something like, <\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cYou\n can do it \u2013 we can help!\u201d And perhaps that\u2019s how governors,\ncollectively, feel. The school, its senior managers, its dedicated staff\n \u2013 they can do it \u2013 raise the exam passes, create a fantastic choir,\nfield winning teams, keep fees as low as is feasible, keep parents as\nhappy as possible, manage complaints effectively and fast, and meet all\nthe expectations of whatever inspecting authority may drop in at any\nmoment. The school can do it, governors \u2013 we \u2013 can help. Having\noversight, not meddling. Supporting, encouraging, making that which is\ndesirable and possible a reality, overseeing the effective education of\npupils \u2013 as my handbook reminds me, it\u2019s extremely rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n
So, who would be a governor? <\/p>\n\n\n
I would. Eyes on, hands off \u2013 except when we are clapping.<\/p>\n\n\n
This article first appeared in IE-Today<\/a> on 16 November 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s lots of talk on how to be a more effective independent school governor – but why would anyone want to do it in the first place?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[100,228],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ie-today","tag-governors","tag-volunteering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}