Adapting to New Ways
Over the past few months we have all had to adapt to communicating and working remotely, and for a lot of us the current situation has forced us to come up with new ways of completing tasks that were normally done face to face, and thinking about processes and procedures differently.
This has all certainly been true for governor meetings. In March we were seeing a ‘wait and see’ approach to how long this situation would last, but during April and May there started to be more virtual governance – meetings taking place online and governors and clerks making use of document sharing solutions so that all attendees had access to information.
Virtual Governance
As we now start looking to the remainder of the academic year and preparing for the new one, we can start to evaluate what the future for governor meetings might be.There are many benefits to virtual governance, especially for groups of volunteers who often have a day job, as there is no rushing home and then heading back out again to attend a meeting. It can also positively impact on your Headteacher’s wellbeing, as they don’t have to wait at school for the meeting but can go home for some time away from work before the meeting starts. Meetings can also be more focused and have tended to be shorter than face to face ones.
A Mixed Landscape
However, you can’t replicate the networking and conversation opportunities that comes with a face to face meeting.
We do expect the landscape of governor meetings to change, but maybe to a mix of physical meetings for more in depth topics, such as budget approval and pay reviews and keeping the virtual governance sessions for meetings that comprise a smaller group of governors or where meetings can be shorter.
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