Our client, the National Governance Association, has launched new research showing that vacancies for school governors and trustees are at their highest since 2016. 67 per cent of governing boards reported at least one vacancy and of these, 38 per cent reported two or more vacancies. The results are part of the NGA’s 2022 annual governance survey which also found that, post pandemic, 63 per cent of respondents reported issues with recruitment compared to 55 per cent in 2019.

Governing boards are responsible for the strategic direction of a school or trust and their decisions impact hundreds, if not thousands of pupils. With the typical board consisting of nine or ten governors or trustees, the high vacancy rate means some boards may struggle to drive improvement and provide sufficient scrutiny and financial oversight.
Overall, the NGA estimates there are currently more than 20,000 vacancies.

To coincide with the new research, Pedroza Comms worked with the NGA to produce a film about school governance which aims to demystify the role and encourage people to find out more about how they can help the schools in their community.

Emma Knights, CEO of the National Governance Association said: “School and trust governance needs to be recognised and celebrated for its positive role in ensuring pupils and staff can flourish. Huge thanks are owed to all those committed volunteers carrying out this role with such care and reflection. These findings make for sobering reading: schools need more good people and we need to get the message out far and wide to engage the thousands we need to fill governance roles. This is why we have launched a new film today explaining what school governors and trustees do and their role in helping our schools to succeed.”