ABSTRACT
Many new heads have had little real contact with a governing body apart from being interviewed by one. It is not surprising therefore that they should feel considerable uncertainty in establishing a relationship with the governors of their new school. Governing bodies have a history almost as long as that of schooling itself. Every school should have its own governing body composed of representatives drawn equally from the Local Education Authority (LEA), the staff, the community and the parents. The recommendations on membership were controversial at the time not only because they included equal representation for parents but because the LEA would lose its majority on the new, more powerful governing bodies. The Education Act required all governing bodies to include representatives of both the teaching staff and of the parents. The 1986 Act gave significantly greater responsibilities to the governing body for determining the curriculum, but these have been modified and reduced by the 1988 Act.
