ABSTRACT
The responsibilities of school governors have increased dramatically during the last decade. Since the end of the 1980s they have effectively become the employers of the school’s teaching staff with responsibility over the school’s budget, though the function of governors is not to run the school on a day-to-day basis. That is the responsibility of the head and the staff employed in the school. School governance is the principal means whereby a mixture of professional and lay people can, on behalf of the whole community, oversee policy and practice, support, advise, and initiate action, where necessary. In theory, at any rate, the governing body, and certainly the person who chairs it, should become closely involved in any allegations of incompetence in the school.
