Parents will lose their place as school governors, Morgan proposes

SCHOOLS will no longer need to include parents on their governing bodies under plans unveiled by the Education Secretary, leading to concerns that communities will be “silenced” in crucial decisions.

Governing bodies should be able to co-opt people with the right expertise, a White Paper suggests. The current requirement to include elected parent governors would vanish. Nicky Morgan said such roles were only providing a voice for “informed parents” and did not represent the “real parental voice”.

Teachers last night argued that the “voices of parents” were being silenced. Concerns were also expressed on social media that a lack of parents would leave governors unscrutinised.

“We will expect all governing boards to focus on seeking people with the right skills for governance, and so we will no longer require academy trusts to reserve places for elected parents on governing boards,” the proposals say.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Voices of parents, governors and the local community are being silenced by a Government that does not believe in proper democratic accountability in our schools.

“If the Government were serious about the important role of parents they would value the parental voice on governing bodies.”

Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, a former parent governor herself, said: “It’s rather sad but I know that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to recruit parent governors. I think schools will be the people who lose out through this because they benefit from the views of parents when they are making major decisions. Parent governors act as a conduit through which to gather information from the parent community. I would advocate that a school should have at least two parents on its governing body.”

Gillian Allcroft, deputy chief executive of the National Governors’ Association, said: “We think it is important that parents continue to have a seat at the board table. This is particularly the case in single academies or in a multi-acad- emy trust if there is no parental involvement at local academy level.”

The White Paper also urged schools to focus on improving the grades of their brightest pupils, as extra funding to help the most academically able was announced. Reforms have so far have largely focused on helping the lowest-attaining pupils.

Research by Ofsted has suggested secondary schools could do more to support bright pupils and should encourage them to apply to Oxbridge.

Headteachers would be given the power to hire unqualified teachers as part of a drive to plug a significant skills shortage.

They would also be allowed 30 months’ grace when sent in to improve a failing school, during which they would not face inspection by Ofsted.

‘Schools will lose out because they benefit from the views of parents when making decisions’