Many school governors lack adequate training

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service

The number of school governors who are getting financial training organised by Powys Council is “disappointing”, a senior councillor has said.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Liberal Democrat/Labour Cabinet earlier this month, senior councillors received an update report on the schools’ financial position at the end of March and their budget proposals for this financial year.

While councillors believed that the situation is stabilising after more money has been pumped into schools – with falling school numbers and hundreds of youngsters leaving the county each year to pursue post-16 education outside Powys – schools’ financial issues remain a risk for the council.

The report shows that 32 Powys schools were in a deficit position, which is up from 23 schools in 2024/2025.

The number of schools posting a surplus is 50 – which is down from 64 last year.

Key to addressing this issue is school headteachers and governing bodies working with council finance officers to find the answers.

Education portfolio holder Cllr James Gibson-Watt (Liberal Democrat – Glasbury) said: “We are providing finance training to school governors and the uptake of that is disappointing.

“I would encourage the local authority governors to encourage their fellow governors to undertake that training.”

Cabinet member for children’s social services and the Welsh language, Cllr Sandra Davies (Labour – Cwm-twrch), reminded her colleagues that school governors are volunteers.

Cllr Davies said: “Schools and governors have a difficult task, as we all know. Governors have to give up their time in order to attend meetings and training, but they are given a lot of support from the county.”

Cllr Gibson-Watt agreed and said: “Governors are being asked to do something impossible, which is to balance budgets while delivering an ever-expanding curriculum.”

Cabinet noted the report.

Over the last year or so, the role of school governors has been discussed, with several ideas floated on how to bolster the role.

This is in response to a scathing report by Welsh education watchdog Estyn.

The education department Integrated Business Plan (IBP), which is the overarching document, points the way to improving education in Powys over the next five years.

The document has six objectives, and Objective One is to: “Strengthen the quality and impact of leadership, including political leadership, at all levels.”

Parts of this objective are relevant to school governors, who will be expected to be able to evaluate their schools and review headteacher performance regularly.

The governors will also need to receive training and meet the council regularly to provide “evidence” to reassure council chiefs that standards and results are improving in schools.

Last autumn, councillors discussed the difficulty of finding suitable people with the necessary skills to become governors.

And whether all Powys councillors should be school governors to help overcome this issue.

Just over a year ago, it was suggested that governing bodies could be slimmed down, with “more experienced governors” looking after several schools.