Does your Governing Board have a ‘Professional Clerk’?

There has been a lot of focus on the role of Members, Trustees/Directors and Governors within a school’s Governing Board, yet there is another important role which has evolved but can all too often be taken for granted – that of the Clerk.

The DfE’s 2017 Governance Handbook  (4.4 The professional clerk pg. 36) states that “High quality professional clerking is crucial to the effective functioning of the board. The clerk should be the boards’ ‘governance professional’.”

Gone are the days when the Clerk was simply the minute-taker in the room.

The increased expectations of the Clerk, supporting and guiding a group of volunteers, have been brought to the forefront through the publication of the DfE’s Clerking Competency Framework. This Framework highlights the: Vital role of the Clerk in supporting the six key features of effective governance, as identified in the Governance Competency Framework:

• Strategic Leadership that sets and champions vision, ethos and strategy with the Clerk supporting the Chair and the Board in remaining strategic at all times;
• Accountability that drives up educational standards and financial performance with the Clerk supporting the Board to identify information requirements and questions that could be asked of the Senior Leadership Team;
• People with the Clerk supporting the Board to recruit, induct and train individuals with the right skill sets;
• Structures that reinforce clearly defined roles and responsibilities and ensuring the Board is properly constituted;
• Compliance with professional clerking providing knowledgeable and confident support to the Board to ensure compliance with the relevant legal frameworks and governance requirements of the organisation; and
• Evaluation to help monitor and improve the quality and impact of governance.

The four core competencies that are expected from all school / academy Clerks:

• Understanding Governance with a sound understanding of the Board’s duties and responsibilities and the wider context in which the Board is operating, the Clerk will be able to make an important contribution to the Board’s effectiveness.
• Advice and Guidance by understanding governance, the Clerk will be able to provide better quality advice on legal and procedural matters related to governance, assisting in a more effective strategic decision-making process.
• Administration taking care of the administrative side enables the Chair and the Board to make more effective use of their time, focusing on strategic matters.
• People and Relationships professional clerking plays an important role in ensuring the Board has accurate records of its members and their skills. Good relationships are also essential to establishing open communication and ensuring smooth information flows between key stakeholders.

Does your Board use a professional Clerk for all of their meetings, including committee meetings - someone who has been given training in both the role and responsibilities of a clerk and is given the time to carry out the role and is not just seen as a ‘minute taker’?

It is good practice that your Board does not use:

• A member of school staff, raising the issue of potential conflict of interest; and
• A governor to minute meetings. This will result in the governor not being able to fully engage in Board/Committee discussions, reducing their strategic effectiveness.

A professional Clerk doesn’t always have to be employed by the School / Academy Trust - there is also the option of using the Warwickshire Clerking Service. If you would like to know more about how the Warwickshire Clerking Service can work to effectively support your Board, please ring Gurby Dhesi on 01926 745137 or email gurbydhesi@warwickshire.gov.uk