‘We need more school governors who look like me’

Rochelle Clarke was nervous as she pulled up a chair between a group of white priests mostly in their 60s and 70s. She was 30 at the time and this was her first meeting as Headmistress at an east London school not far from where she was born.

“I have very long hair and a very big personality. I’m black and small and I look very young,” she says. “I’m not always taken seriously at first glance.”

According to a new report first published by the BBC, Rochelle’s experience is not unusual.

Almost all (90%) of the 4,000 governors who responded to a questionnaire from resource provider GovernorHub were white. More than half (57%) were over 55 years old.

The questionnaire surveyed a small proportion of the total number of school principals in England, which is estimated at more than 200,000. And the stats don’t reflect the composition of each board.

But governors who have spoken to the BBC, the National Governance Association (NGA) and the Department for Education (DfE) agree that diversity needs to be improved.

Governors’ responsibilities include selecting principals, ensuring tuition is well spent, and participating in panels on expulsions and grievances.

Rochelle, now 35 and who works for Tower Hamlets Council, is working with schools to ensure boards are inclusive – something the Government says it is trying to do too.

“If we have 12 middle-aged white males with degrees around a table, do we have a diversity of thought? Probably not,” says Rochelle, adding that people like construction workers who may not have attended university will make valuable contributions to decisions about school construction, for example.

She sometimes challenges board members who claim they have failed to recruit people from ethnic minorities, even though they make up most of the district’s population.

But she also sees positive changes when her work pays off. A parent governor recently told her she had persuaded the school to teach black history year-round, not just Black History Month.

“It’s a really difficult thing. But if you’re not on the board, you, as governor, can’t make those positive changes,” she says.

School leaders often act as a link between schools and their local communities.

Nis Bandara, 31, heads the school board of a primary school in Manchester, where around 90% of the children speak English as an additional language. Just before she spoke to the BBC, her board had discussed contacting parents in different languages.

Nis’ board of directors is younger and more ethnically diverse than most. She didn’t think this was unusual until she met governors from other bodies at a training course and realized she was the only person from an ethnic minority.

“Most people are retired former teachers or have a school background. But a good governor can come from all walks of life,” she says.

“I’m not saying a good governor has to be young or ethnically diverse, but I think the open-mindedness that they can bring from any background has to be the first place to start.”

Olivia Hinds, 28, became the principal of a school in Birmingham five years ago. She actively tries to recruit younger people as she feels her age makes her better at dealing with students.

“If you haven’t taken an exam in the last 30 or 40 years, you might have a harder time understanding what students are going through today,” she says.

“When they speak to me, I don’t need to find a translator to understand what they’re saying, in terms of the language they’re using or the references they’re making.”

Olivia, who co-hosts a podcast to raise awareness of governance, says she’s seen younger governors helping schools publicize communications on social media instead of lengthy letters to reach a generation of parents who are used to it are to get their information online.

She says being governor is a great way for young people to build their skills without needing prior experience, because everyone who went to school in the 21st century “is the experience.”

Philip Drew, 62, has made it his mission to make his board of directors more inclusive at an all-boys grammar school in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

He says he recruits primarily on ability but also believes in “the power of diversity” when it comes to age, gender, race, sexuality and class.

“When you put different opinions and different experiences and different perspectives in the room, you come to a better decision,” he says.

Philip has taken active steps to get there, such as asking people to step down after their four-year tenure and introducing “associate members” to the board who contribute but do not assume full governorship responsibilities have to.

In doing so, he hopes to reach people who wouldn’t normally consider becoming governor and says he’s managed to bring in some “who we otherwise think we’d have lost.”

Neil Collins, founder of GovernorHub, says many people don’t know what governors do, which makes recruiting difficult.

The government has previously been alerted to the issue – including in previous NGA reports – and Mr Collins has urged the DfE to run an awareness campaign.

“We will struggle to attract the people we need and want to recruit when governance is hidden from much of society,” he told the BBC.

“Various bodies lead to better decision-making in the interests of the entire school or community of trust. This lack of awareness is literally holding schools back.”

The NGA, which has about 65,000 members, welcomed the report and said the change was “frustratingly slow”.

Emma Knights, Chief Executive, said: “Without the participation of more people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, as well as young people, boards of directors are missing out on the talent, passion and breadth of perspectives required for good governance,” she said.

A DfE spokesman said it is investing in recruiting school governors and increasing diversity on governing bodies.

He said nearly one in five governors placed through Inspiring Governance — a DfE-funded program that helps boards recruit qualified employees — is of Black, Asian or ethnic background.

“We expect governing boards to regularly assess whether they have the right diversity of people to reflect the communities they serve and ensure the best outcomes for all of their students,” he added.