Governors - what do they do?

Every school has governors - they have to. Some governors are teachers, some are parents and others are just members of the local community. They don't get paid but ultimately they have a say over the who gets employed by the school, what the money gets spent on and whether to sack any member of staff from the headteacher down. It's a job with a huge amount of responsibility that takes up a lot of time for no financial reward, so why do people do it?

There are various different types of governor:

• The Teacher Governor. These are a legal requirement but few members of staff actually want to do it as it takes up a lot of time that could be spent planning "outstanding" lessons for Ofsted. You are there to offer the views of the staff but the danger is, certainly at my school and others I've been at, that if you say anything even remotely derogatory about the school, your life will be made a misery by the head, and so as a result most teacher governors sit there saying nothing because it's not worth their while.
• The Parent Governor. These are obviously parents of children at the school. By default they care about their children's education otherwise they wouldn't have got involved in the whole process. Their entire perception of the school is based upon their own child's experience of it, and since they care in the first place, their child is likely to be in the top set of every subject they take. Hence their children will rarely be subjected to the amoebic behaviour of some members of the school that soils plenty of other lessons. Therefore they have a tainted view of the school in general. Tainted in a good way I suppose, but invariably inaccurate as a whole.
• The "Random" Governor. These are people who have few ties to the school in general, although some maybe be former parents or pupils wanting to "give something back". They tend to be members of the local community who are either self- or unemployed, and so can take time off as and when required to do so. Most are self-employed and run their own business, normally relatively successfully. Some members of this group use the title of "school governor" as a stepping stone to greater things, for example, Mayor. We have a couple of those at our school. They have no idea what goes on in the school apart from what the headteacher tells them, despite the fact that they may wander the campus on occasion, but they are directed very efficiently in the the "right" parts of the school by the headteacher. Their view is ultimately meaningless.
• The Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher. These two are on the governing body whatever. They are there to tell the governors how the school is performing, or more precisely, to tell the governors what they want to hear in order that the governors won't sack them, as ultimately, they are the only people who can do so. The headteacher could inform the governors that the science department is planning a trip to Mars and the governors have little choice but to believe it, unless of course they have a conscience and actually find out what's really going on. Few do, but it does happen. Not at my school though.

When things go wrong at a school, for example a disastrous Ofsted or something actually important, firstly the headteacher gets it in the neck, but the governors also take the brunt of the criticism, so you'd think that they'd be a little more pro-active than most are. I have taught at schools where the governors are quite pro-active and actually do the job they are supposed to do. It is, sadly, rare that this actually happens though, but if a headteacher is found to have been using school funds for their own personal use (not that uncommon people), the governors will be asked a lot of searching questions. So maybe it's worth thinking quite carefully about becoming a governor, as serious repercussions could be coming your way.

Dear Jim'll,

Could you fix it for me to become headteacher because I want a iPad and Sky TV in my office,

Yours sincerely...