WE governors are an odd bunch. At the national conference we complained bitterly about our workload, while denouncing with equal passion the suggestion that we should relinquish our involvement in staff appointments and discipline.
I arrived late at the conference, courtesy of Midland Mainline. As I came in, the minister seemed to be talking about reducing governing body sizes. Surely, I must have misheard - haven’t we just increased them?
But apparently, shedding most local authority appointees (like me), and bizarrely, some of our newly-elected parents will make us leaner and fitter, giving every governor the chance to participate ully. It will, incidentally, solve the Government and authorities’ governor-recruitment problems, but of course is being proposed entirely for our benefit.
Also “to help schools”, as a DFEE statement delivered to conference explained, the deadline for a performance management adviser’s visit has been extended until April 6. We are told we should set provisional targets while we wait. This move is not, of course, simply designed to get the Government’s contractor, Cambridge Education Associates, out of the hole they have dug for themselves.
Isn’t it good to know that someone is looking after our interests?
Joan Dalton