The Brown Collective MD Dr Stephen Brown says the need for quality strategic and operational governance practices at a school and system level has never been more important.
We are all living, working and engaging in a VUCA world; one that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and with growing degrees of ambiguity. The leadership and governance of schools and systemic entities that oversight the provision of schooling are being buffered by waves of societal, economic, technological, political and regulatory trends that bring into focus the importance of quality, active, responsive governance.
David Gonski noted in a presentation to the independent schools’ sector (2018) that ‘governance properly administered is very important. Conversely, if governance is not properly implemented it can act as a retardant and indeed cause misery for all involved’.
Nationally, there have been very public cases reported of governance failures involving school boards, headmasters, principals, parents and students related to a plethora of matters.
Sadly, in my experience, the ones that attract publicity are only the tip of the iceberg and don’t reflect the number of governance breakdowns that result in prolonged and significant professional and reputational damage at an individual and organisational level.
Governance arrangements frame how decisions are made and implemented, and are influenced by an organisation’s mission and purpose, its history and its culture. Good governance requires affective and effective leadership which ingrains an ethical culture; consideration of all impacted by its decisions, and accountability and transparency, including adequate clear communication (The Lights from the Southern Cross Report, May 2020).
The term ‘governance’ is not new; it is derived from the Greek verb κυβερνάω [kubernáo] meaning ‘to steer’. The derivate of the word ‘steerage’ is a marine one referring to the inner workings of a ship located near the rudder. Robert Tricker (2019) in his text, Corporate Governance: principles, policies and practices, suggests that the governance of any organisation should be taken from four key perspectives:
- Agency, having clarity about who can make decisions and the associated procedures, processes and delegations for making them.
- Stewardship, individuals and groups are temporary custodians of the organisation and with this in mind need to ensure they act in the best interest of the organisation to enable a sustainable future.
- Resource dependency, the attraction and prudent management of all forms of organisational resources.
- Stakeholders and decision makers need to consider the views and perspectives of the diversity of any organisation’s constituency.
‘Good governance’ is typified by the following maxims: participatory; consensus orientated; accountable; transparent; responsive; effective; efficient; equitable; inclusive and follows the law (OECD, 2015). Moreover, quality governance practices must be embedded in the culture of a school by leaders, stakeholders and others with responsibilities, accountabilities and agency. Good governance is a key enabler in insuring and assuring others about any school’s purpose and core accountabilities such as child safety, professional standards of teaching practice, student performance and behaviour.
Quality governance practices should be aspirational, clearly articulated but never static, always open to refinement, nuance and continuous improvement.
In working with school leaders and the system there are several priorities that need to be addressed and actioned to enable better governance practices. These are:
- Understanding the nature of the authorising environment (after Moore): Leaders understanding the regulatory and compliance requirements in which they make decisions.
- Capacity building of leaders: Leaders need to be provided with high quality and ongoing formation in areas such as strategic thinking, stakeholder and relationship management; financial management, reporting and performance leadership.
- Role clarity, expectations, behaviours, communication and associated accountabilities: Leaders in collaboration with staff and the broader community need to articulate and enforce codes of conduct; outline accountability and reporting relationships and requirements
- Understanding the nature of decision making: Ninety per cent of decision making is based on emotion before reason (Comaford, 2017). Leaders and actors in the activity of governance need to be mindful of the assumptions and heuristics they have in making judgements that will impact on the school.
- Establishing and nurturing a positive school culture: Good governance is a symptom or indicator of a positive culture. McHale (2020, p.2) notes that an organisation’s culture is “the patterns or agreements that determine how the business (school) operates or simply, “how things work (or are done) around here”. School leaders set the culture. They should be the ‘first class noticers’ of culture, noticing things, looking and scanning inside and outside the school – a process that never stops given that the nurturing of culture is an ongoing priority (Brown, S, 2022).
In short, good governance informs decision making, enables strong professional relationships with stakeholders, and sets the organisational culture (University of York,2023).
Governance programs
Dr Stephen Brown and The Brown Collective (www.thebrowncollective.com.au) deliver governance programs to the schooling sector across Australia. It has two flagship programs; Leading with Integrity for Excellence (LWIE) governance program, and the Professional Practices program that it has delivered to thousands of school and system leaders to assist with the maturation of governance practices.
In addition to these, The Brown Collective design customised responses to contextual governance needs at a school, network and system level. Dr Brown is currently the Deputy Chair of the Council of Edmund Rice Australia. His acumen, practical and authentic understanding of strategic governance is highly regarded and ensures any formation responses are reflective of the reality of governance in the schooling sector.
About the author
Dr Stephen Brown is the Managing Director of The Brown Collective, focused on the formation of educational leaders and partnering with schools, networks and system to enable sustainable impact. The organisation reflects both his collective experience over 40 years in policy, strategy and leadership development – and that of the remarkable global network he has developed during this career.