Do you publish board diversity information?

Schools Week has undertaken analysis of the websites of the largest trusts, as well as a random sample of smaller chains and local authority maintained schools to find out if school websites are publishing information on the diversity of their governors and trustees.

Schools Week has found that very few have published diversity data so far, with fears over data protection a key concern.

‘What schools should publish online’ guidance last year encouraged boards to collect and publish diversity data about the board and any local committees. However, the guidance was clear that board members could opt out of sharing their information, including protected characteristics.

Samira Sadeghi, director of trust governance at the Confederation of School Trusts, and a speaker at the recent DAG Conference, added that, while the principle behind the idea was a good one, there are practical challenges in doing this and meeting data protection requirements. “Boards and committees will usually be quite small, and trusts need to avoid inadvertently disclosing individuals’ personal data,” she said.

None of the ten largest trusts in England have published data.