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...

It May Be The Holidays...

It may be the holidays but not all teachers are sunning themselves on a beach in the Caribbean you know. What with the recent announcement that I'm going to have to find an extra £400 per year for my "fantastic" pension (the reason it's "fantastic" Mr Gove/Osbourne is because we don't get paid as much as the private sector workers and don't receive any bonuses, you muppet(s)).

In fact I'm actually working for a couple of days each week on quite an exciting project to do with learning via the internet and children in remote parts of the world. It has legs and I'm being paid very well for it, although I would like to point out, not the hourly rate of £30ish per hour that the unions suggest we get paid, but I'm grateful, not only for the cash but also for the opportunity to be part of something that I believe could be truly revolutionary in the world of education across the planet. I can't say too much at this point (dear oh dear, I sound like a poor man's James Bond), but if it gets off the ground, and the signs are good, I will no doubt bore the pants off you all about it.

I would like to say that it's really nice to be working with people who actually value my opinion (and I have a few gems amid the piles of rubbish I throw out on a daily basis) as opposed to being told by certain members of my leadership team and Ofsted that I'm essentially worthless on a regular basis. Please, put those small violins away, I don't want sympathy, I'm just making the point that perhaps your staff, Mr/Ms Headteacher, would be more productive and open to your ludicrous ideas about pushing the school "forward", if you actually praised them on occasions when you didn't actually want something from them in order to give you more leverage when you go for your next, better paid job. Just a thought.

Anyway, I digress.

It's funny but the first thing you hear from people when  they talk about teaching is "great holidays". What people don't often realise that a teacher's day doesn't begin at 9am and end at 3.30pm, and the 13 weeks (yes, I know it's a lot) holiday isn't always spent on a sunbed with the latest Jilly Cooper novel, or whatever may float your particular boat.

When I first startedteaching all those moons ago, I spent most of my holidays labouring on a building site of a friend of mine. The money I was paid was essentially what I got for being a teacher - so it was "double bubble" for those weeks. The great thing with the labouring was that I didn't have to do anything outside of my working hours, I'd just turn up, break stuff up/wheelbarrow/shovel stuff, and go home. Plenty of tiredness but no stress. I'm not saying that all teachers should give up teaching and become labourers, but I'm just trying to convey the fact that teaching is not just about your contracted hours - 13 weeks holiday is often not 13 weeks holiday.

Unless you're the headteacher, when you can actually afford to pay for holidays offered by travel agents during school holiday time, and you can just tell your 100 or whatever staff to essentially do your job for you.

Who's the mug?