Specific Details
IPPN submission to the Standing Committee on Boards of Management re. the Operation of BoMs (July 2016)
Intended results
Primary schools need to be both governed and managed. The current ‘Board of Management’ entity is a misnomer. Governance needs to be clearly defined and distinct from day-to-day school management. Governance is about vision, mission, goals, direction, policy, values and compliance. It supports and enables effective school management.
Management should be defined in the context of the day-today operation of the school. Management requires the accessible, visible, leadership of the principal and the middle leadership team.
The chairperson should be selected by the Board. This should ensure that the most appropriate person, with the necessary skills, experience and time, is the person selected to chair meetings and lead the governance group.
The role of the principal in school governance should be clarified. Governance and management will be more clearly defined if the principal is in attendance at, reporting to, and contributing to governance, but not a member of the Board.
Smaller schools should be encouraged and incentivised to establish shared governance structures. Resolving the overlap between governance and management should facilitate a governance structure for clusters of schools within a community. This should ensure a more skilled, effective representation on governance and the availability of a sufficient number of people with the time and the interest to commit to governance.
Legal, financial, human resource and building/maintenance expertise should be available on a cluster or regional basis to all schools. School governance cannot continue on an entirely voluntary basis. The increasingly complex nature of education requires an availability of paid professional services on an ongoing basis to all schools. This should ensure greater planning for, and sharing of, facilities and expertise.
Training should be provided for, and attended by, all Board members at the beginning of their four-year term, and as required thereafter. Schools can only be effective and accountable if appropriate training is provided (and availed of) on an ongoing basis to the Board as a corporate entity.
Training should be provided for individuals who have specific roles and responsibilities in governance. Training must respond to the differentiated needs of Boards and of Board members on matters such as chairing of meetings, human resource management in schools, legal implications for Boards, managing school finances etc.
Good governance should be underpinned by effective planning, recording and reporting. Boards must plan, record and report effectively. Structures need to be clearly outlined, and adhered to, if effectiveness and accountability are to be assured.
Adequate, skilled administrative support should be put in place to enable principals to fulfil both their governance and instructional leadership responsibilities. Ensuring that the principal can fulfil the distinct roles of secretary to the Board and leader of teaching and learning requires appropriate, professional resources, including secretarial support, appropriate office space, and access to paid financial and legal services.
Governance roles should be defined and duties and responsibilities delegated. All members of a school ‘Board of Governance’ should understand their collective and individual responsibilities. Individual responsibilities would include areas such as chairperson, treasurer, secretary, recording secretary, capital projects’ officer, maintenance officer, safety officer and school premises’ officer.
Governance should include the formation of sub-committees, and co-option to the Board or to sub-committees of the Board, when necessary.