To ask the Minister of Education to confirm (i) what oversight his Department provides to monitor the effectiveness of Boards of Governors; and (ii) what action is taken if a Board of Governors of a controlled school have not met regularly and do not engage with parents.

The Department does not have an official monitoring role on the effectiveness of Boards of Governors. However, the Education Training Inspectorate may evaluate the quality of the strategic and corporate work of the Board of Governors during inspections and if they are concerned about the standards of governance within a school it can recommend that the Department exercises its powers under Article 14 of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 and appoint additional governors to the board of governors.

The Education Authority (EA), which appoints Governors to Controlled schools, has an extensive training programme available to all governors and along with the Department is able to provide advice and support to Boards as appropriate.

The past year has been extremely difficult for schools and in many cases, boards of governors planned meetings could not proceed due to Covid restrictions. The Department recently approved an amendment to the Scheme of Management for Controlled schools which made provision for governors to meet remotely. The EA issued guidance during the first lockdown to advise that Boards of Governors should not meet unless required to transact urgent business.

Outside of Covid restrictions, where it has come to the attention of EA that a Board of Governors has been unable to meet, the EA can provide support to help overcome the barrier to meeting. Where however in the opinion of an individual or group, the board have not met ‘regularly’ enough, that is a matter for the Board to consider.

If an individual or group is dissatisfied with the level of engagement provided by the Board of Governors, the school should have a process by which concerns may be raised. These may include informal process for providing suggestions and raising such matters. Alternatively, the school will have a complaints procedure available to parents, carers, and other stakeholders that should be used.