The Governors Role in School Self - Evaluations

Although the requirement to use the Ofsted SEF has been removed, in part because this multi-sectioned document had become too unwieldy and was taking hours of time and for some schools over 100 pages of documentation to complete, schools still are obligated to conduct a regular schedule of self-evaluation. Some schools are opting to continue using the form, albeit in a scaled down way.

When evaluating, it is important to take an honest look at how the school is performing. While it can be tempting to focus on all the good stuff and ignore the bad, it does neither the governing body nor the school any benefit to do this.

A4.3 The effectiveness of the governing body in challenging and supporting the school so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities met.

Section A4.3 of the SEF pertains specifically to the performance of the Governing Body and should ideally be completely by the Chair of Governors with input from other governors.

Within the SEF you will be asked first to rate your performance on a scale of 1 (failing) to 4 (outstanding). Then you will need to provide evidence supporting this rating.

When providing evidence, it is better to use bullet points rather than a narrative approach. Where ever possible, the reader should be informed where evidence can be found. Bodies of evidence backing up your statements can be found within the minutes of governing body and committee meetings, Terms of Reference and the Head Teacher's report to the Governing Body. Other evidence could include a governing body self-evaluation, skills audits, and records of governing training.

Remember - if it hasn't been recorded, it didn't happen.

When writing the self-evaluation, the governing body may wish to take into account the Evaluation Schedule of Judgements for Schools, pages 41 - 43, which lists what Ofsted Inspectors will be looking for when making their judgements.

As stated above, a good place to start in determining what to put into the SEF can be found in the Ofsted "Evaluation Schedule of Judgement" under the heading The effectiveness of the governing body in challenging and supporting the school so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities met.

The SEF should provide a clear picture of how the Governing Body is performing. It should show that you have identified strengths and weaknesses and are using that knowledge to improve.

Avoid using acronyms unless they have been clearly explained already.

Provide only facts, never speculation.

It is not just important to list out what you are doing as a Governing Body, you also need to comment on what the impact has been for the school as a result of those actions.

Examples of information provided in a Self-Evaluation
The following are items which I have placed in our own school's Self-evaluation in the past. At the time of writing, ours was a relatively young governing body, with the majority having joined as new governors within the previous 24 months. I gave us a rating of satisfactory.

"There have been several personnel changes to the governing body in the past year. Efforts have been made, by coordinating recruitment efforts with Governor Services and School Governor One-Stop Shop, to find governors with key skills and experiences which will be of benefit to the governing body as a whole."

"The committee structure has been changed and committee Terms of Reference have been updated, allowing individual governors to devote more time to specific duties.

Updated Terms of Reference for the governing body has provided greater clarity in their role both as a collective and as individuals. (Terms of Reference)"

"An audit of governing body member skills was conducted in Spring 2010 and from the information gathered two training session have been arranged during full governing body meetings.
1. Health and Safety
2. Pupil assessments

All governors attending reported that they had a better understanding of these issues after the training session. (Minutes)"

"Membership in the National Governors' Association has been continued and governors receive regular updates on national issues related to education and school governance which allows them to conduct their duties more effectively within the school."

"The vice-chair of governors has been tasked with monitoring training and co-ordinating what further training needs to be taken by each governor. "