Hayley James, one of our associate education experts, helped us to write this article.
Who can write and approve the terms of reference?
There's no set rule on who can actually write them, but the full board should approve them.
Typically, either:
- The board writes and approves terms of reference. The relevant committee formally adopts them and creates a related work plan, or
- The committee puts together terms of reference and the board approves them
In practice, the chair/chair of the committee will probably write the terms of reference.
Involve the full board: don't consider terms of reference in isolation. Include the full board as it's important that responsibilities are delegated clearly and don't overlap.
If you're the chair of the governing board or chair of the committee, it'll probably be you who needs to download and use our template to write your terms of reference. Adapt it for any terms of reference you