People volunteer for all sorts of reasons but basically they all want to get something from it, and what they want, or what they take from volunteering, may change over time.
Parents and “Retired” people [i.e. those who have retired from paid employment] are fairly obvious sources of volunteers:
- Parents are likely to volunteer because they want to be involved in their child’s school or education.
- Retired people are likely to volunteer because they want to give something back to their community, to give them an interest and/or to make use of the skills, knowledge and expertise they developed during their working life which still have value and are transferable to the school setting.
But what about younger people generally, often fully committed to work or their careers, why should they make time to be a school governor? It is the opportunity to develop and practice a range of skill sets they would not normally have until later in their working lives.
A key problem for anyone seeking promotion or a better paid job is to show they have relevant experience at the level they are applying for rather than the level they are currently at. As a school governor they would be working as part of a management team providing strategic direction and oversight of what in the private sector would probably be equivalent to a medium sized business, or a department of a large company.
Key areas are:
- Strategic direction
- Policy Development
- Performance Management
- Financial Management
- Staff Management
- Leadership
Being a school governor provides an opportunity to gain experience and develop expertise in these areas that can be transferred back into the workplace and can provide evidence of an individual’s ability in a c.v. or job application.
To find out more please contact Julia Newman, Officer for Governor Services julia.newman@bedford.gov.uk
To register your interest please go to the Bedford Borough website.
bedford.gov.uk/schools-education-and-childcare/school-governors/
