How to encourage staff to serve on your governing board

Last reviewed on 16 October 2018
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 33462

Follow these tips to put together an advert that appeals to your staff members and encourages them to stand for election to your governing board.

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Contents

  1. Explain what the role involves and who can apply
  2. Highlight the benefits
  3. Mitigate the common concerns
  4. Make sure all staff know about the vacancy
  5. Run the election
  6. Promote the role all year round
  7. If you're having difficulty filling the role 

Governor recruitment charity Governors for Schools helped us write this article.

Explain what the role involves and who can apply

Create an advert that sets out:

  • Who can apply (for maintained schools check the eligibility requirements in this article)
  • The role and functions of the governing board
  • The expectations of new governors, particularly regarding their attendance at meetings and membership of committees
  • The skills and experience that you want your new governors to have, based on your board's self-evaluation
  • What training and development opportunities there'll be

This transparency will help you to conduct informed elections

If you're a maintained school, or an academy running a staff governor election, being clear about the above will help:

  • Your candidates to publish a tailored statement explaining how they meet the expectations and criteria of the governing board
  • Your electorate to make an informed decision and better judge the candidates' statements

This is set out in the Governance Handbook (see p33).

While staff governor elections

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