Diversity on governing boards

At Governors for Schools we believe that ensuring governing boards are diverse is of the up-most importance.

We’re committed to improving the diversity of governing boards…

Effective school/trust governance requires a variety of views, experiences, and challenges at the decision-making table. From our experience in the sector, we know this diversity creates robust discussion and a better understanding of pupils’ needs. It’s also vital that children see people of all backgrounds in board-level positions. 

That’s why ensuring boards have diversity in skillset, perspective, and experience continues to be one of our aspirations for the governance sector. 

Our commitment to diverse governance

A diverse governing board is a stronger board. They reflect school communities and the wider country. In 2023-24, we were proud to support the appointment of 2,165 governance volunteers in 1,650 schools, 69% of whom were under 45, and 35% of whom were from a global majority background 

If you’re keen to reflect on the make-up of your governing board, our blog on Board diversity in schools: How do we measure up? is a good place to start. It explores the importance of your own diversity data, improving representation, and how better recruitment practices can create change.  

Inclusive Governance campaign

Diverse boards help ensure effective governance, made up of volunteers who understand the needs of staff, pupils and the community alike. As part of our commitment to diversifying governing boards, we ran a year-long Inclusive Governance campaign. This project put together supportive resources – including podcasts, blogs, diaries and webinars . With this campaign, we encouraged a wider pool of volunteers into school governance.  
 
If you’re considering school governance, we hope you find these resources both useful and inspiring. Alternatively, if you’re an existing school governor, we hope they’re an opportunity to reflect on equality, diversity and inclusion in your school. 

Further reading on board diversity:

  • GovernorHub’s report: this key piece of research addresses the missing pool of talent on school governing boards. 
  • The NGA report: which explores volunteer recruitment and retention through the lens of the experiences and views of governors and trustees from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds. 
  • We also worked with Nottingham Trent University on how we can improve diversity and inclusivity on governing boards. Read the report.Â