Governance leaders have strongly criticised the Department for Education for not including the need for a local tier of governors in its new descriptions of what multi-academy trusts should deliver.
The National Governance Association NGA) has accused the government of scoring a “massive own goal” by not stating the need for local governance arrangements in its draft document setting out what it thinks MATs should be doing.
The concerns have been raised following the DfE’s decision to scrap a national programme to support governors.
Emma Knights, chief executive of the NGA, said the sector’s hopes had been raised last year by the Schools White Paper saying that “all trusts should have local governance arrangements for their schools” to ensure “they are responsive to parents and local communities”.
However, the policy was not included in the DfE’s new descriptors for MAT quality published this week.
Ms Knights added: “Neglecting to include local governance in the description suggests the department is out of kilter with the sector.”
The importance of local governors
Sam Henson, the NGA’s director of policy and information, said: “We, of course, understand the DfE does not want to dictate a single approach to how MAT governance is carried out; indeed, any attempt to straitjacket how the local tier operates for the sector would be wrong.
“Yet it is nothing short of a massive own goal to fail to understand and build on over a decade’s worth of learning from MATs across the country, recognising how local governance can and should feed into the strategic decision making of the trust board. To render invisible the commitment and time given by an estimated 80,000 local governors is unforgivable.”
The DfE has said that its new descriptions “represent a clear and ambitious vision for the academies sector”.
Ms Knights added: “We remain to be convinced as boards and executives should already understand these basics. We look forward to engaging with the development of the commissioning guidance.
“There is a lack of clarity as to how the commissioners - the DfE’s regional directors - will decide whether trusts are meeting the vision set by the descriptions, given the absence of any mechanism for measuring success.”
The DfE published a draft set of “trust quality” descriptions for MATs earlier this week, following the release of the Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review report in March.
It builds on the five pillars of trust quality originally set out in last year’s White Paper, Opportunity for All.
A year ago the White Paper stated that strong trusts must have strategic governance, which was defined as “operating an effective and robust governance structure that involves schools and exemplifies ethical standards”.
It said strong trusts should “utilise the expertise and skills on its boards to oversee the strategic direction effectively and hold leaders to account”. And it said MATs should have “a strong local identity, engaging effectively with parents and the wider community”.
The White Paper also included a specific commitment that “all trusts should have local governance arrangements”, which would be further discussed with the sector.
However, the trust quality descriptions contain no specific mention of local governance.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The vast majority of trusts already benefit from having some form of local governance arrangements for their schools and it is important that trusts have flexibility to constitute their local governance tier to best suit their circumstances.
“That is why in our trust quality descriptions we have focused on how these arrangements should ensure meaningful engagement and involvement of parents, schools, communities, dioceses and other religious authorities with decisions which affect them.”
