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Younger, and more diverse, governors needed for North East schools

Having a strong and effective board of governors in a school can make a real difference to the life chances of young people. That’s why the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has formed partnerships with national organisations and programmes, including Inspiring Governance, to support employees from North East businesses to become governors. The North East LEP’s Neil Willis explains more.

School governors are the single largest group of volunteers in the UK. Over a quarter of a million people help improve outcomes for children and young people by volunteering as part of a school’s governing board. But we still need more governors – and a more diverse range of them – here in the North East.

Here at the North East LEP, 11 members of the team, including myself, are school governors. This has increased from two since we became the first LEP in the country to sign the School Governor Champion Charter, which supports staff members to become governors in local schools.

It’s a rewarding role and, as well as giving back to their community, people can improve their own skillsets in things like leadership and project management, so it’s an opportunity for personal and professional development too.

We recently commissioned some research from the National Governance Association, based on their 2021 Annual Governance Survey, into the picture in the North East. Nearly two thirds of respondents in our region find it a challenge to fill their governor vacancies. What’s more, 63% of governors who participated in the survey are aged 50 or over, and we’d love to see more young people taking on the role.

And of course we also want governing boards to reflect the communities they serve, so it was good to see that only 2.6% of respondents to the survey said their board didn’t reflect the makeup of their local community at all – although I’d love to see this number reduce to zero.

Governors can have a positive impact on careers education and guidance, and it’s recommended that boards identify a governor with the responsibility for taking a strategic interest in the school’s careers programme. It was encouraging to see that governors across the North East draw on their local employers and local employer partnerships, such as the LEP or Chamber, when developing their careers education strategy.

In many cases, this is a great opportunity for representatives from local businesses, who can bring their sector knowledge to the role. For a business that supports their employees to volunteer on governing boards it can be a great way of connecting with the community and developing your team’s professional skills.

While many individual volunteers and businesses are clearly involved with school governance in our region, it’s something we can build on, and we can do that by supporting a wider range of people, with a wider range of skills and experience, to get involved with their schools in the region.

It’s a myth that you need to know a lot about education to be a governor, and all sorts of skillsets are needed to make an effective governing body. There is a lot of support, professional development and training available to those who volunteer to ensure governing boards are effective in their core functions.

You can find out more about becoming a governor here, or email [email protected].  

Home / Neil Willis

New report demonstrates impact of employer engagement on student outcomes

A report released this week by the Education and Employers charity shows that students who learn about the world of work through direct contact with employers are more motivated to achieve better grades at school – findings which correlate directly with the work we are already carrying out with schools and businesses here in the North East.

The findings of this report measured the impact of secondary pupils having talks, meetings and careers sessions with employers and found that students were more motivated when they had contact with people who work in different industries, with previously low achieving pupils in particular seeing an increase in motivation and time spent revising for GCSEs.

These findings are of significant interest to us here at the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) as we have seen evidence of this positive impact on young people here in the North East through our Education Challenge programme, which aims to raise attainment in our schools by integrating an understanding of the world of work and career opportunities into the curriculum.

The North East LEP Skills team is working to bring schools and employers together to give young people the opportunity to learn about the range of career and education options open to them once they leave school, direct from employers, educators, and people who work in a range of industries. We know that these encounters with employers help young people to raise their aspirations and develop skills that employers are looking for. Pupils, parents, teachers and employers have all told us that this method of direct contact with the world of work helps to open young people’s eyes to the variety of opportunities open to them.

We want each and every young person in our region to have the best possible start to their working life and it’s reassuring to see that this new research fully supports the approach we are taking here in the North East to improving outcomes for young people and helping them to see the relevance of what they study in the classroom to their future lives.

Neil Willis, Regional Project Lead: Education Challenge, North East Local Enterprise Partnership.