ABSTRACT
Governors who are greatly surprised by the outcome of visits like the one have really only themselves to blame. Ideally there should be only a marginal difference between what governors already know about their school and what an outside inspector tells them. A major marketing feature of independent schools is often smaller class sizes than those in other schools - although wise governors always actually check their facts. Parents who are dissatisfied with their children's work at school will often focus on something specific like class size, because that avoids direct criticism of a teacher or teachers. Parents sometimes also ask why maintained schools which manage their own budgets can have parent governors. Head teachers who spend their time in day-to-day crisis management of the present are probably falling down on their longer-term obligations. The chapter suggests that the issue of how head teacher spends his time should be put on the governors' agenda for his next appraisal.
