Who Is Responsible for School Performance? Standards and frameworks; who does what: the role of the government; the role of the inspectorate; the role of the LEA; the role of the governing body; the role of the staff; the role of the parents; the question to address

The governing body is responsible for determining the aims and overall conduct of the school. This includes deciding, with the headteacher, how the school should develop in order to maintain and improve its standards of education. (DfEE, 1996b)

Why should governors concern themselves with policy-making? The LEA writes all our policies . . . The LEA provides the agendas for our governing body meetings and a clerk to assist us. I don’t think governors are there to make decisions. . . . (A secondary school governor, quoted in Walters and Richardson, 1997)

Standards and Frameworks

The governing body is the ultimate authority in a school. It carries the ultimate responsibility for school performance. It has to answer to the community, and to the local authority, and to the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. The government’s legislation of 1998 (The School Standards and Framework Act) confirmed the place of governors at the heart of the school improvement movement.