This episode considers what good governance looks like in the secondary school, how school leaders and governors can work together productively, and how schools can support their governors to be effective.

We speak with three school leadership experts about what the role of governors should be. We ask:

  • What is the distinction between the role of governor and school leader – the strategic and the operational? To what extent should governors be operational?
  • How can we support governors who have little or no experience of schools and education?
  • What makes for an effective chair and vice-chair of governors? What does an effective link governor role look like?
  • How does governance change between individual schools and chains of schools within MATs? Which governance structures work best?
  • What kind of information should school leaders provide to governors when and in which format?

This episode is hosted by Matt Bromley, an education advisor and author with more than 20 years’ experience in teaching including as a secondary headteacher and MAT director. Our guests are:

  • Paul Haigh, headteacher, King Ecgbert School, Sheffield, part of the Mercia Learning Trust
  • Clare Mills, a retired secondary headteacher and currently chair of governors for a federation of special schools in the south of Birmingham.
  • Ian Potter, chief executive of the Gosport and Fareham Multi-Academy Trust based in Hampshire.

To hear other SecEd podcasts, or to subscribe for free to new editions, search for 'The SecEd Podcast' in your podcast streaming application of choice. Or visit www.sec-ed.co.uk/podcasts

For details about The SecEd Podcast, or to suggest future topics, email editor Pete Henshaw at editor@sec-ed.co.uk