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Ofsted inspection: role of link governors
If you're a link governor, inspectors won't be formally assessing your role. But if you do speak to them, here's how you can demonstrate how you're effectively monitoring your school.
Contents
Thanks to one of our associate education experts, Gulshan Kayembe, for her input on this article.
Inspectors will want to meet as many governors as possible
Though link governors aren't mentioned directly in the School Inspection Handbook, it does state that schools should invite as many governors or trustees as possible to meet with inspectors during the inspection process (page 13).
Inspectors won’t ask to meet link governors specifically
However, they’ll probably ask if any governors they do meet have link roles.
If your board has link governors, inspectors might look for evidence – e.g. in meeting minutes or visit reports – that these link governors are involved and active. Remember that link governors are a way of monitoring the school, so inspectors will want to see that they're fulfilling their roles.
Be ready to explain how you use your link role to monitor your school
If given the opportunity during an inspection, tell inspectors about how you use your link role to:
- Get into school to see how things are going
- Look at the department’s data
- Discuss with teachers and heads of department how well they feel teaching is going
- Hold discussions with pupils
- Report back to the governing body on your findings
- Champion issues in governing body meetings
More resources for link governors
Sources
Gulshan Kayembe is an independent consultant who has experience of inspecting schools. As a consultant, she provides mentoring for senior leaders and has worked as an external adviser on headteachers’ performance management.
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- Ofsted 2019: how governance is inspected
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- Ofsted: latest updates
- Section 48 inspections: guidance
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