IN THE conference room at Varndean school, Galena Veber went to work with enthusiasm. “What is an inspection for? How is it carried out? What happens when the schools pass and are the results made public to the governing body?” Headteacher Andy Schofield, chair of governors Juliet McCaffery and various local education authority officials kept up with this broadside of questions from a woman hungry for knowledge. Ms Veber and her three colleagues scribbled conscientiously.

The party, plus translator Elena Ostrova, are involved in education in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region. The visit to Varndean was day two of a week-long trip to Brighton and Hove to observe how school governors operate in England.

Krasnoyarsk is a big place - about seven times the size of France. But Siberians are used to the immense distances as well as the cold and the dark. For Galena Veber and her colleagues the real challenge is the future of education in their homeland and how schools contribute to community growth. Russia is only a dozen years away from a society which, to the West, was highly structured, centralised, hierarchical and top down. Just like an LEA before 1988, some would argue. But English progress in devolving powers to school governors is of great interest in Krasnoyarsk.

The British Council has funded a link between Brighton and Hove and the Siberians as Russia moves to pass new legislation on education. Rosalind Turner, the unitary LEA’s assistant director for lifelong learning, has already visited the area to share expertise. She says that the learning is a two-way process. “The project aims to encourage local involvement in schools through the development of governing bodies. It has given us a chance to compare what we do and reflect on our own practices.”

The humility is, perhaps, appropriate. The Russians have something to teach us about the involvement of students who can serve as governors in their schools. They also have reason to be proud of an education system which launched manned exploration of space and produced a string of world chess champions.

Kevin Allen, a governor at Bevendean primary school, which also entertained the visitors, worked for the British Council in Russia for several years:

“The high level of maths puts our people to shame. There is a thirst for learning and a desire to improve standards.”

So what were Galena and her colleagues really keen to see in England? They were interested in bodies such as the National Governors’ Council (NGC) and the National Association of Governors and Managers (NAGM). Governors in Russia do not have the same opportunities for networking. And they are keen on training.

But Galena Veber does not anticipate any rapid changes: “The most important change will be the awareness of the people who have visited Brighton. We saw very clearly how the governors’ movement works in Brighton and we will be working on a framework for this.”

The governance culture in Siberia is a fluid one and a little ad hoc. Governors cannot employ staff or handle funding. But the work can still be onerous. Svetalana Zylevich works full-time as a lawyer and puts in 10 to 16 hours a week as chair of a board of governors.

Fundraising is always on her mind - a constant preoccupation for school governors. So a businessman or woman on the board is useful: “We recruit governors from wherever we can - mostly through personal connections and acquaintances. They are often parents.”

There are the students as well: “We can get a real picture of what is happening from children as they see things in a different way.”

Veronika Cort, 15, from Voronezh now lives with her mother in Brighton, like her friend Julia Primostka, aged 12, from Rostov on Don. They both attend Varndean and were introduced to the visitors. Asked how school in Russia compared to a Brighton secondary school, Veronika replied: “In Russia the teachers work hard to make you learn. Here, if you do not want to learn, no one makes you.”

An insight like that could provoke a debate on any board of governors, Russian or English. But the Krasnoyarsk party were interested in the nuts and bolts. What areas are being inspected? Does the board manage the finances? Where do you recruit from? Do you ever challenge the head? The questions were revealing of the current gaps in Russian school governance thinking. There is clearly a long way to go. But thanks to Rosalind Turner’s team and the vision of Galena Veber and her partners, there will be no shortage of answers.