Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the many principals, teachers, parents, students and community members together with personnel in Victoria's DEECD for commenting on earlier drafts of this section.

Our Mission

Informing this section, our mission is to connect people, promote shared decision making and support conversations and practical initiatives for the improvement of learning outcomes for all students.

Ten good Practices

Good governance is the foundation for strong partnerships which, in turn, can bring about major improvements in learning outcomes for all students. But it is also an ideal which is not easy to achieve!

Few education systems are close to this ideal. For one thing there have not always been sustained resources and support for school communities to develop the very best governance. 

However, to build stronger partnerships and to achieve significant improvements in outcomes, it is obviously vital to gradually work toward this ideal with the aim of making it a reality.

During discussions with many principals and school councils, a shared view was that there was a need for key indicators of good governance - which could be used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of current practice. Many councils also already do an evaluation of their functioning at the end of each year.

Based on the good practice of school councils and the guidelines in the Department's Making the Partnership Work, ten indicators of good governance are as follows. Together, they can comprise a self-assessment and improvement tool for a council.

1. clear Objectives

The objectives of a governing body should, of course, be crystal clear and shared by all council members. The governing body is thus focused on the school's educational core business.

For example, among the objectives of school councils defined in Victoria's Education and Training Reform Act 2006 is that of enhancing the educational opportunities of students.

School councils put aside time to 'drill down' into this objective - to agree as to what it means in practice and how their planning, policy and partnership work may best enhance such opportunities.

Thus, they may specify their role in promoting opportunities for all students to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens (as per the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians).

2. Well-Specified Functions and powers

School councils make sure that their functions and powers, detailed in the Department's Making the Partnership Work, are thought through and the basis of their practice.

Careful discussion of these functions and powers obviously ensures that all council members are 'reading from the same page'.

For example, school council members discuss what does it really mean to establish the broad direction and vision of the school, how a vision really connects with work on a day-to-day basis and how such work may lead to improved outcomes for all students.

3. Planning, reporting and accountability

This involves developing a strategic planning process through:

• Analysing key issues and challenges
• Developing broad agreement among all of the school's stakeholders about the vision, goals and strategies that are most likely to improve learning outcomes for all students.

The resulting strategic plan is the basis for teachers, parents and students - and community groups - really working together. As a good practice, some schools develop their leadership structure and sub-committees around a small number of goals in their plan.

Good policies complement a plan. Policies are vital because they let everyone know what the whole school community approach to certain matters (including the core business of teaching and learning) will be and ensure that there are uniformity and consistency in decisions and in how the school operates.

Schools seek to have a small number of specific policies that actually affect school practice rather than a large number of policies, some of which may be largely irrelevant or of little use.

A school council also ensures that:

• An annual budget is prepared and subsequently that a statement of receipts and expenditure is prepared
• Proper accounts and records of financial operations and the financial position and operation of the council are kept
• An internal control system is maintained and monitored to ensure operational efficiency and adherence to statewide requirements.

Good financial practice obviously means managing finances so that the budget and the school’s strategic plan (ideally with major goals focused on the future of education) are closely aligned.

A school council member should be able to answer the following:

1. I know and understand the formal financial responsibilities of our council
2. I understand and carefully consider the financial reports provided at monthly meetings
3. I know how our finances are linked to the strategic and implementation plans
4. I understand how to monitor school accounts to decide if there are opportunities to invest surplus funds to earn interest
5. I am a member of a council that knows how to "ensure that all money coming into the hands of the council is expended for proper purposes relating to the school" (Education and Training Reform Act 2006).

As well, the Department has a very useful internal financial control checklist which a school can use to make sure that it does not expose itself to financial risk. A school's treasurer and finance committee should be familiar with it.

Likewise, a school council strives to establish over time the highest standards of reporting and accountability for:

• The strategic plan
• School budget/finance
• School performance.

4. Values and behaviour

A council promotes broad agreement about values (as reflected, for example, in a shared code of conduct) and demonstrates these values through standards of behaviour.

School councils may also ensure that all members have a copy of (and have read) the Director's Code of Conduct (as issued by the Victorian Public Sector Standards Commissioner).

5. SCHOOL community conversations

It is a key role of a school council to facilitate school community conversations about the future of education (and educational policies such as the Blueprint for Education and Early Childhood Development and models such as e5) and about how all stakeholders can work together to improve learning outcomes.

Such conversations involving stakeholders and enabling mutual learning complement the professional knowledge, skills, experience and leadership of the principal and teachers.

Good facilitation is the key to a successful school community conversation. Schools often use an experienced, independent facilitator who can promote conversation and deep consensus.

A tangible result of a school community conversation may be the development of a shared, school community-wide understanding and policy framework for 21st century learning.

In this regard, in partnership with schools and DEECD, VICCSO is creating practical, state-of-the-art tools to support face-to-face and on-line conversations in school communities. This is a major project which will link with the Department's e5 model.

The tools may assist schools with developing shared views about 21st century education, tackling hot topics and promoting respectful dialogue among teachers, parents and students.

6. Decision making and standing orders

A school council makes sure that decisions are based on proper meeting procedures and high-quality information and advice, informed by well-functioning sub-committees.

This includes making sure that council meetings are run in a productive and efficient manner with standing orders (see the Department's sample set of standing orders) and ground rules.

There also needs to be a carefully prepared agenda and papers that are sent at least five working days before a meeting.

Each agenda item may also relate to a council-approved policy. By matching all or most agenda items with policies, a council can make sure that its work relates completely to approved policies.

This can also assist a council to stay focused on its more strategic role and to monitor how agreed council policies are, in fact, influencing school decisions, action and practice.

Sub-committees have clear purposes and terms of reference and procedures for agendas, minutes and reporting to the council and make recommendations for the full school council to consider.

Schools find that 'less is more' - it's obviously better to have a small number of well-functioning teams than lots of committees, some of which may be 'going through the motions'.

Some schools also build their leadership structure around a small number of sub-committees. This can provide a sharp (and shared staff and school community) focus on improvement.

7. Partnerships, participation and inclusion

It is obviously imperative to build strong teams, sub-committees and partnerships, that serve to promote mutual learning and joint work among all stakeholders, within and external to the school.

Partnerships that school councils consider include, for example, home-family links, a P-12 cluster of primary and secondary schools, links with workplaces and a school as a community hub.

Some schools develop a family-school-community partnerships policy. It may become a core guiding idea that influences all of a school's decisions, actions and practice.

Schools also encourage and support community members with different social and cultural backgrounds and expertise to participate in the work of the council and its sub-committees.

To focus efforts on inclusion, a school council may want to develop a cultural and social Inclusion policy and plan. (For more information, see this section on the website).

8. Information and communication

A school council may make sure that:

• The school has a plan for content-rich, two-way communication between the school and families
• All stakeholders have ready access to meeting minutes, school policies and the strategic plan
• There is high-quality, two-way communication between the governing body and stakeholders.

9. Capacity building

It is obviously important to build the capacity, over time, of the school council to be effective through:

• Proper induction and opportunities for professional learning
• Sharing ideas and practices with other councils.

In this way, stakeholders (including parents and students of diverse backgrounds) can competently participate in shared decision making as enfranchised and informed decision makers.

10. Evaluation and improvement

Good governance is ultimately realised through evaluating the performance of the governing body and identifying opportunities for improvement in governance.

These indicators can be used each year to reflect on a council's performance as a governing body.

GOOD GOVERNANCE AT ALL LEVELS

One thing that can be overlooked is this: good governance practices are as important at the regional network and statewide levels as at the local school council level.

Not only should all three levels be developed together, but people at all three levels should have opportunities to interact.

Why? Good governance at all levels is required to bring about improvements in learning outcomes. If the governance roles and responsibilities of any one of the three levels are underdeveloped, the system as a whole is weakened.

What is needed is strong, co-ordinated tri-level governance. This may have the following elements:

• Students and their needs and outcomes are the focus
• Making sure that all three levels promote subsidiarity - meaning that decisions should be made at the most appropriate level
• The sharing of data and information across all levels
• Building leadership capacity across all three levels
• Two way tri-level communication and consultation.

Subsidiarity is important within education departments, favouring the decentralisation of many powers (and the resources to go with them) from central to local and regional governing bodies.

Many major decisions about education and learning are often best taken by the people who work in schools in partnership with those affected by this work, including parents and students.

 CONCLUSION

Governance is pivotal in improving educational performance and outcomes for all. Good governance can be built in two ways:

1. Using key indicators of good governance to assess the strengths and weaknesses of current practice
2. Ensuring that governance practices are improved over time at all levels - local, regional and state-wide/national.