Effective Governance Resources

The Department for Education (DfE) have published support for maintained school governing bodies, academy trust boards, leaders, governance professionals and clerks in developing sustainable and effective governance.

An expert advisory group put together by the (DfE) identified areas for governing bodies and academy trust boards to focus on to develop and maintain effective governance. Each resource contains links to further reading, the documents are:

• Working with governance professionals (clerks)
• Governing strategically in your school or academy trust
• Producing effective board reports for strong governance
• Creating an effective and agile governance structure
• Recruiting governors and academy trustees

This information was created in collaboration with:

• National Governance Association
• Confederation of School Trusts
• Trust Governance Professionals
• National Association of Governance Advisory Services
• Catholic Education Service
• National Society for Education
• Governors for Schools
• National Black Governors Network

This differs from the maintained schools governance guide and academy trust governance guide, which focus on compliance and regulatory responsibilities. The resources in each document are not formally endorsed by DfE or the other contributing organisations. Schools and academy trusts should ensure they are working in line with their instrument of government (maintained schools) or articles of association (academy trusts).