A new generation of school governors
People of all ages and backgrounds are sharing their experiences
When you picture a school governor, who do you imagine?
You might automatically think of a professional with a long career behind them? Or perhaps that it’s well suited to a parent with school-aged children?
In reality, anyone can become a school governor. And given that most of us went to school, we think that people of all ages and backgrounds have something to offer.
So, working with Governors for Schools, as part of our societal impact programme 5 Million Futures, we’re supporting a new, exciting generation of governors.
Since July 2020, we’ve placed 209 volunteers in schools in England and Wales. And in the last year, 65 volunteers have been appointed. They’re bringing their skills and experiences to boards to help make them more inclusive and representative of the students they serve.
In recognition of the need to significantly grow and diversify school governance, our people have also contributed their skills to the charity itself, pro bono, through a project to define and develop new funding streams, analyse the impact of different scenarios and provide guidance on how to deliver income generation options.
Representation in school leadership
The role of a school governor is about offering strategic guidance, holding school leadership to account, challenging processes, ensuring the budget is well spent and helping to plan a school’s future direction. Who better to contribute than a young professional, committed to improving the experiences of kids in school today?
It goes without saying that a variety of skills will be needed. Governors might, for example, help set a school’s objectives or comment on data privacy or school wellbeing processes. Or they could be needed to appoint a new headteacher or review a pupil exclusion. Bringing a diversity of thought and experiences to challenges like these is important. Schools can’t run without them.
With representation front of mind, one of the main focuses of our work with Governors for Schools is to build an inclusive group of volunteers, recruiting women, under 40’s, colleagues from an ethnic minority background and those who attended a state school.
94% of Deloitte governors are under the age of 44 and 49% come from a Black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic background, significantly addressing underrepresentation in the sector. 35% have been appointed into schools facing the highest level of disadvantage across England and Wales.
"Our people bring such wonderfully fresh perspectives to these roles. I love how their diverse insight adds value to governor discussions,” says Jackie Henry, Deloitte’s UK managing partner for people and purpose.
"What’s just brilliant is hearing how much they are getting back from the experience. They’re all developing new skills that they’ll take into their lives and careers."
Cyrus Mwangi
For Cyrus Mwangi, manger in major programmes in consulting, working towards fairer representation was his primary motivation for becoming a governor.
Throughout Cyrus’ own education, he was acutely aware of a lack of representation among school leadership, including governors and teachers.
As the dedicated governor for sciences at the school he supports, encouraging young people of all backgrounds and genders to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects - his areas of expertise – is important to him.
“In primary school, girls are just as engaged in science as boys,” he says. “But when they get to secondary school and higher education, data from the Department of Education showed that female representation in STEM subjects declines.
“My role as a governor gives me an opportunity to put plans in place that I hope will change this trend in the future. For example, I’ve been working on using my network to bring in women leaders in STEM to speak to the students and be role models for them.”
The skills Cyrus learned to prepare him for his governor role are proving valuable in his day job too. “Looking back at my first year, it was a big developmental journey especially given that I also sit on the school’s management and finance committees, so I had to quickly get up to speed with important statutory policies for schools,” he continues.
“Learning about things such as safeguarding and supporting students with special educational needs and disabilities has helped me contribute more effectively to the school.”
Femi Omowaye
Senior manager Femi Omowaye is supporting a school with over 400 students from a range of different nationalities and backgrounds. He supports the school with his expertise as a data management specialist at Deloitte.
"Bringing my industry expertise and knowledge of data management is my way of contributing to the work of the school. So far I’ve helped them comply with GDPR regulations whenever they bring in new technology. This is important to keep their systems running smoothly and protects the data of everyone.”
Femi has found being a governor an eye-opening experience in lots of ways and believes that having the opportunity to see things from a different perspective is valuable.
Femi makes use of the 3.5 hours volunteering time a month Deloitte offers to visit the school during open hours and is supported by a network of school governors at Deloitte, who come together to share resources and expertise from their own experiences at their schools. He recently worked on delivering the school’s data privacy impact assessment, an important element of the school’s Ofsted assessment. Together with the board, he also evaluates the school’s budget and holds their spending to account.
As a father of three, his priority is to help children be the best they can be, irrespective of their background.
“This experience has challenged me to learn more about the great educational services teachers deliver every day in schools across the country. It’s insight I wouldn’t otherwise have had.
“For anyone considering being a governor, I’d encourage them to go for it. It’s a huge learning experience in a completely new environment. It’s natural to be apprehensive at first, but you will have a great network of support. It’s a two-way relationship. You will offer so much to the school and learn a lot in return.”
