How to recruit school governors and trustees

Work through this step-by-step process to recruit new governors or trustees. It covers identifying your needs, advertising the role, screening candidates and making the appointment.

Last reviewed on 31 August 2022
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 3864
Contents
  1. Conduct a skills audit to identify your board's needs
  2. Clarify who does what in the recruitment process 
  3. Single academies and multi-academy trusts (MATs)
  4. Use a free recruitment organisation like Governors for Schools for co-opted positions
  5. Create a tailored advert
  6. Explain how rewarding the job is
  7. Attract the right people
  8. Create an application pack
  9. Screen candidates
  10. Appoint/elect and induct your new governor

We used the Governance Handbook, academy trust governance guidance and advice from governor recruitment charity Governors for Schools, and our governance expert Matt Miller, to write this article. 

Conduct a skills audit to identify your board's needs

The first step when recruiting new governors or trustees is to identify what skills and experience your board needs from a new member to be effective. 

Use our skills audit to do this. It's based on the Department for Education's competency framework. 

If any third party organisations are helping you recruit new governors or trustees, share your skills audit with them.

Clarify who does what in the recruitment process 

The recruitment process will vary based on:

Headteachers are usually more involved in filling parent and staff governor vacancies, due to their existing relationship with the staff and