New research: leadership and governance alignment in schools, trusts and colleges

Over the past year, we have spent time listening to people who govern and lead schools and colleges, asking how governance is experienced from where they sit. To mark National School Governors’ Awareness Day, we are publishing findings from a new research project drawing on responses from more than 500 governance and leadership stakeholders across schools, multi-academy trusts and colleges in England. Together, they are responsible for around 40,000 learners. 

The research aimed to understand how engaged people felt in their roles, and whether there were differences in engagement and experience between people who work closely together (such as Trustees and Executives, and School Governors and School Leaders).  

Why do differences in engagement matter? Leading a trust is complex and demanding, and the relationship between leadership teams and boards can play a significant role in the quality of decisions that get made. The Department for Education has been clear that “the best trusts are successful in large part because of the leadership and systems which the most effective Chief Executive Officers bring to their trusts, supported by effective oversight from trust boards (including chairs) and excellent central teams." 

Ultimately, the relationship between trust leaders and trust boards depends on shared assumptions about what is manageable. Where those assumptions drift, it becomes harder to know whether assurance is being formed against the realities leaders are working within.  

A key insight of the research is that while overall engagement is high, confidence declines the closer a role is to day-to-day delivery. Those with governance responsibility tend to be more confident about delivery feasibility and organisational sustainability. Leaders closer to delivery are less so. On the other hand, leaders feel more confident that decisions are informed by broader stakeholder engagement, including with parents and communities, whereas boards are less certain that decisions have been tested against lived experience.  

Together, this means that assurance is most likely to thin where board confidence is not consistently tested against the same operational constraints and lived experience that shape leaders’ judgements.  

You can read the full findings of the research in the report: Download report.  

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What next?

Alongside the report, we are inviting schools, trusts and colleges to take part in the next phase of the research through The Engagement Platform. Participation is fully funded and allows organisations to see how their own patterns compare with emerging national benchmarks.

For CEOs and Board Chairs preparing for increased scrutiny, we also offer independent governance assurance reviews grounded in this evidence. These focus on traceability, line of sight and cumulative assurance, helping boards demonstrate how they know governance is working in practice. Contact us: hello@impactedgroup.uk

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