Best Practice

Quality of teaching and the role of governors

Governance and management
Fergal Roche suggests six ways that school governors can help to improve teaching standards

What do you think would do most to improve education in our schools? When The Key put this question to governors across England earlier this year, “better quality teaching” was the most common answer. Asked to select up to three possible changes from a list of 12, more of the 1,320 governors who responded chose better quality teaching (39 per cent) than smaller class sizes and better quality leadership.

We know there are many outstanding teachers in schools today, but how can we ensure that outstanding is the norm? Clearly there is no quick-fix, but there are some steps that governors can take, working closely with the senior leadership team, to keep driving up the quality of teaching throughout their school.

Monitor CPD provision

Is CPD linked to the school’s strategic priorities? How is its impact evaluated? Managing and delivering CPD is an operational matter, but governors should be monitoring how the school evaluates its provision in this area. These questions are a good starting point for ensuring that CPD-related decisions in school are logical and well-defined.

Further important considerations include:

  • Has a range of CPD methods been explored?
  • Are the needs of individual teachers accounted for?
  • Is the school getting good value for money?

Ensure robust appraisal processes

The school’s appraisal process should ensure that teachers know how they are performing (against the Teachers’ Standards and their own objectives), and support teachers to keep improving their practice. It should also address underperformance.

It is the governing body’s responsibility to make sure that the appraisal process is documented and effective, and to carry out the headteacher’s appraisal. In particular, the Department for Education advises that governors will want to be satisfied with the school’s arrangements for classroom observation and any delegation of performance management, including fair and effective implementation of the policy. Governors should also monitor the use of appraisal evidence and how this informs decisions on professional development and pay.

Rigorously monitor pupil progress and attainment

While it is not for governors to assess teachers’ individual performance, they should have access to and be able to understand and discuss data on pupil progress and attainment. A report from the Sutton Trust in 2011 found that pupil progress is the best way to measure the quality of teaching, concentrating on value-added or progress data over time to get a “much more stable” indication of impact.

The Governors’ Handbook notes that the headteacher should give the governing body all the information it needs to do its job well, which would include data relating to priority areas for improvement. Governors should also see “objective data”, from sources such as RAISEonline and Ofsted’s school performance dashboard. Additionally, governors can visit the school to watch lessons and observe how engaged pupils are, as well as how they behave and their relationships with staff. Carrying out pupil surveys and comparing the responses with pupil progress data can also be useful.

Monitor staff wellbeing

It has been widely reported that the wellbeing of teachers is an increasing concern, triggered in part by worries about workload. It is important that governors ensure the school has structures in place for teachers to voice concerns, as well as adequate support systems, and is addressing any issues appropriately.

Resources that can help schools with this include a “ready reckoner” questionnaire from unions including the National Union of Teachers, designed to help assess workplace stress, the Health and Safety Executive’s staff wellbeing indicator tool, which focuses on working conditions, and a staff health and wellbeing questionnaire from Surrey Healthy Schools. Ensuring the school has a method for assessing staff wellbeing and identifying areas for improvement is an important first step. It is then a case of making sure the necessary changes are implemented effectively.

Attract high-quality candidates

As we all know, teacher recruitment is easier said than done. As governors, the focus for all governing boards is predominantly on the recruitment of headteachers or senior leaders, but the governing body can play a role in ensuring that the school’s approach to teacher recruitment provides the best chance of attracting high-quality candidates.

Recommendations from experts we have spoken to include:

  • Create an advert that “dares to be different”.
  • Produce a professional-looking recruitment pack, with information about the school and local area as well as the role and person specification.
  • Present the school as being on a journey of improvement which the successful candidate will play a part in.
  • Use the school website to give a positive impression.
  • Invite applicants to visit the school.

Ask questions and keep records for inspectors

It is worth remembering that Ofsted inspectors will look at the governing body’s meeting minutes to see how governors find out about the quality and impact of teaching and learning. Asking questions of the senior leadership team and recording the discussion in the minutes can help to demonstrate that the governing body is providing effective challenge and support in this area.

A document from the Welsh government suggests a number of questions for governors to ask (see link below), and many governor resources from local authorities include useful questions and prompts.

The Key’s website also suggests a number of questions to ask, ranging from the more fundamental “how does the school identify weak teaching?” and “do teaching staff have development objectives linked to curriculum priorities?”, to more specific questions such as “what is our target for the percentage of teaching judged to be good or outstanding?”.

  • Fergal Roche is chief executive of The Key, which provides leadership and management support to schools. Visit www.thekeysupport.com

Further information and references