Technology enabled school governance to continue during pandemic

A new survey ahead of the inaugural National School Governors’ Awareness Day on 22 February has gathered the views from governors on the challenges and opportunities experienced during the pandemic.
 
More than 80% of respondents agreed that the virtual meetings, that have become the only way of meeting during the pandemic, had worked well.
 
There were some caveats: while a quarter of those surveyed said that attendance had improved during the pandemic, most likely because of the shift to online meetings, for some governors technology had been a challenge, and some complained that participation had not been as good as during virtual meetings.
 
Just 18% of those surveyed said the pandemic had had a negative impact on the effectiveness of governance in their school - 63% said that it had been unaffected and 19% said that it had actually improved.
 
Most governors agreed that the pandemic had actually made it easier for them to attend training; 60% of respondents agreed with the statement that it had made attending training easier. 32% had attended 3-5 hours of training since September 2021, with 22% attending 6-8 hours of training.
 
More than 90% of the 212 governors and trustees surveyed said that staff wellbeing and workload was an issue in their schools. A similar number (87%) agreed that governing bodies could have a positive impact on this issue by focusing on the issue more, making it a recurring meeting agenda item. Making an effort to express thanks to staff for their hard work through thank you’s and simple gestures such as cakes was another popular choice, along with auditing their school in this area.
 
One of the governors who took part in the survey said: “As I work full time the use of Teams and Zoom for meetings has made a real difference, as it has greatly increased my availability.”
 
Another commented: “I feel that all the governing bodies have continued to work well, finding new and creative ways to carry out monitoring and communicate, but overall it is better to build the team if we can meet more face to face.”
 
Steve Barker, an experienced governor with more than 30 years’ experience and head of governance services at event sponsor Strictly Education, said: “Our survey shows that governors and trustees have been in incredibly flexible in response to the pandemic but with the emergency finally showing signs of receding we need to be careful not to ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’, abandoning working practices that have been highly effective for the vast majority of governing bodies and trust boards.”
 
“While we don’t envisage governing bodies and trust boards maintaining a 100% online approach over the coming months there is much to be said for a blended approach as we hopefully leave the pandemic behind us, mixing online meetings with face-to-face, with a much more focused and stripped-down committee structure.”