Communication with Governors

It has always been the responsibility of schools to ensure their governors receive all appropriate and necessary communications. Prior to e-communications schools set up their own paper based systems to ensure documents were passed on. The introduction and development of e-communications seems to have blurred this responsibility and has consequently caused some confusion between schools, governors and the Local Authority. The development of e-communications has not changed this responsibility, but what it has done, if used well, is open up new possibilities.

Prior to e-communications, in most situations, the school had to duplicate and forward key documents. Where Governors use the internet, this is no longer necessary. To make this easier Governors have access to LA communications via the e-Courier where they can see the latest documents from the LA and a growing archive (currently 4 years) along with a wealth of other information relevant to governing a school.

To make access more convenient, the MI Sheets likely to be of interest to Governors are highlighted. Further, Governors can subscribe to the e-Courier (see the red tag near the top of the e-Courier page or click here) - subscribers are sent an e-mail each week listing all of the new MI Sheets with links to them.

But what if a Governor does not have a computer with internet access? Or does not have appropriate ICT skills or confidence? The following may be helpful (all of these issues have been raised by Governors):

A. Find out which of your governors are happy to access documents via the internet	If they are happy to do this encourage them to access relevant documents via the internet. Show them relevant sites e.g. EsiNet, the e-Courier and My School within EsiNet
B. Find out which of your governors are allowed to access documents via the internet on their work computer and would be happy to do so
C. Find out which of your governors would be happy accessing documents via the internet after some ICT training or a little support from the school	Point them to appropriate Adult Ed courses or negotiate some cluster training through ICT Solutions/Adult Ed.
D. Find out which of your governors would be happy accessing documents via the internet if they could access a school computer	Can governors use your school computers? Could this be arranged?
E. Find out which of your governors would be happy accessing documents via the internet if they knew where they could access a computer locally	What publicly available computers are available in your area in libraries, internet cafes etc?
F. Find out which of your governors are happy to use e-mail	You could arrange for them to be sent links to relevant documents via e-mail (try not to send copies of the documents, just links to them)
G. Find out which of your governors are only comfortable with paper based documents*	Explore with them what their expectations are of the school to ensure they get appropriate documents

* It would be improper to expect a governor to provide their own computer and internet access so that they can carry out their governor role effectively. However as educationalists we have a responsibility to invest in people to ensure they are getting the best from themselves. This in turn may need encouragement and support to ensure they are not fearful of computers or to help them admit their need to boost their skills in this area.

If you carry out the above survey not only will you have a better idea of how communications with Governors may be made more effective, it may help you explore other opportunities with e-communications. But don't forget, as part of their induction, to check out with any new Governors their preferred communication route.

There is no doubt that e-communications will continue to grow and develop. Many Governors are already aware that being able to access electronic information is of great help to their role. It is an important aspect of being a Governor to learn how to use and access these valuable electronic resources for the benefit of their school.

Good practice from schools on keeping the paper manageable
With the Governing Body's approval:

1. The clerk or representative of the governors keeps an eye on this information and either reports on it through the correspondence part of the agenda and/or produces copies for specific governors.
2. Copies of communications are only passed to sub-committee chairs.