View Details

Event Introduction

Currently all school governing bodies have an elected Staff Governor. School governing bodies are expected to act as Boards and effective Governing Boards have a significant impact on school improvement. Board members, including Staff Governors, therefore require a sound understanding of their role and responsibilities. Staff Governors are elected by the school staff and they cease to hold office when they cease to work at the school.

Teaching and support staff who, at the time of election, are employed by either the governing body or the local authority to work at the school under a contract of employment are eligible to be a Staff Governor.

It is important that Staff Governors understand the nature of the role of a governor – and specifically that their role will not be to represent staff, but to act as an individual, who is representative of the staff workforce. Staff Governors operate as part of the collective Governing Body to provide strategic leadership.

Event content

The role of a Staff Governor can be both challenging and rewarding and presents an excellent opportunity for the individual member of staff to contribute to the decisions that are made by the Governing Body as well as to build strong links between the Governing Body and the staff of the school. Experience of being a School Governor is also very useful for any teachers who aspire to move into school leadership and management, it is a great professional development opportunity. 

This event will consist of a presentation plus a number of questions that will be used for group discussions. The questions relate to common problems and issues encountered by Staff Governors. Sharing approaches raised in discussion significantly improves participant’s confidence in handling issues in school appropriately.

The session will cover the importance of the Governing Body as a whole and the following key factors in the role of the Staff Governor including; dealing with complaints from parents and staff; handling issues raised by staff; distinguishing between the relationship with the Headteacher as a member of staff and as a Staff Governor; conflict of interest and handling confidential matters; the challenge role as a Staff Governor.

This training will be delivered by Angela Langford - Head of Governor Support, Achieving for Children (AfC), covering schools across London Borough's of Richmond and Kingston.

As a courtesy to your trainer and fellow delegates if you could please note the following that will be much appreciated:

• Please do not share the online training link with others. Participants must register on www.ealingcpd.org.uk for courses. Attendees who have not registered in advance, may not be admitted by the trainer. 


• By joining this session you understand that your name, school and e mail will be shared with the trainer so they can allow you access to the online session 


• Please make sure you can access the platform prior to the session i.e. Zoom 


• Please join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. When you join the session, you will be placed in a waiting room until the trainer opens the meeting. The session will commence promptly.


• If you are more than 5 minutes late to the session, it is at the trainers discretion whether they will admit you 


• We understand at times participants may lose connection. Whilst the trainer will be mindful of this it may not be possible for you to re-join the meeting once it has started or there may be a delay.

We look forward to seeing you at this session. 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the session Staff Governors will have:

• Explored and be able to explain the role of a school Governing Body and the role of individual governors, including Staff Governors

• Secured an appreciation of the difference between school governance and school management and be able to describe the differences

• Identified some effective approaches that could be taken to some of the issues faced by Staff Governor

For all governors. Especially useful for staff governors themselves and those responsible for recruiting/ appointing/ inducting new governors