The Department for Education (DfE) has published its updated statutory guidance on the constitution of governing bodies of maintained schools (external link). Key updates include:
- disclosure and Barring Service checks
- supplying information to the secretary of state about those involved in governance
- clarified information on governors’ access to training
- clarified information on parent governors
The new version of the guidance references the DfE’s Governance Competency Framework, which is expected to be published this autumn.
The guidance emphasises the role of the governing board in addressing both the training and development needs of individual governors.
The DfE also seek to clarify that parent governors have a valuable perspective to offer and are a good source of knowledge about the school. However, parental engagement is a separate activity for which the whole governing board is responsible.