COURSE OBJECTIVE:

This course is designed to help ‘responsible persons’ (as defined under Section 47(b) of the Education Act in New South Wales) understand and implement sound policies and ongoing procedures for effective governance in ways that comply with the NESA requirements upon school boards.  Furthermore, the course provides opportunities through discussion and problem-solving for board members to build unity of understanding, a common purpose, and a commitment to implementing ‘best practices’ for effective school governance in a strategic manner that enhances the school’s outcomes.  While the emphasis of the course is addressing ongoing professional learning needs, it is also highly suitable as a component of the induction of new ‘responsible persons’.

COURSE AIMS:

• To inform ‘responsible persons’ about the NESA requirements and expectations in the area of school governance;
• To expand knowledge of the NESA requirements and expectations into a solid understanding of these requirements, as demonstrated by a commitment to fulfil these requirements and adhere to principles and practices of ‘best practice’ in school governance;
• To help ‘responsible persons’ develop a practical strategy to fulfil the NESA requirements in terms of (a) record keeping, (b) understanding effective governance principles and practices, and (c) implementing ‘best practice’ in school governance;
• To use mission and vision to provide a framework for strategic thinking by the board;
• To understand the forces that can lead to sub-optimal or dysfunctional school governance, especially conflicts of interest and related party transactions, and take appropriate precautionary or corrective action;
• To understand the importance of fiduciary duty obligations, and especially risk management;
• To develop strategies and procedures to manage risk effectively;
• To consider the board’s structures, composition and succession management;
• To help the board consider its own effectiveness;
• To initiate an ongoing reflective process of effective governance and board evaluation.

DURATION OF THE COURSE:

Two days (15-16 hours total), either in succession (such as a weekend retreat) or on two separate days.

MODE OF DELIVERY:

Face-to-face workshop with all the ‘responsible persons’ in one group, usually delivered at the school or at another suitable venue organised by the school.

COURSE CONTENT:

Introductions

• Getting to know each other
• Being a board member means ...

NESA requirements

• Why the NESA requirements are needed
• What NESA requires
• Who is responsible?
• The six compliance requirements
• Policies and procedures
• Conflicts of interest
• Related party transactions register
• Professional learning
• Induction process
• External independent attestation audit 
• Documentation and record keeping

Governance vs Management

• The nature of a board
• Committees
• Powers of a board
• Governance and management
• The accountability and responsibility relationship
• The scope of a delegations schedule
• Models of governance

Staying focussed in a crisis

• Stakeholder issues that cause pressure
• Common features of unhappiness
• Forms of protest
• The sparks
• Common dangerous reactions by the board
• Consequences for the board
• The role of the Head in a crisis
• How the board should respond
• Initiating action in a crisis
• What not to do if a crisis emerges

Dysfunctional Boards

• “What keeps us up at night”
• Governance and management re-visited
• Problem trustees (board members)
• Problematic board dynamics
• Why dysfunctional governance matters
• Characteristics of poor governance
• Characteristics of good governance
• Using crises as opportunities for new solutions

Healthy boards

• The importance of mission (context and philosophy)
• Characteristics of high quality governance
• Stability
• Meetings
• Board operations
• The Board Chair
• Board priorities
• Collaboration
• Code of conduct
• Responsible boards and exceptional boards
• ‘Best Practice’ in school governance

Mission and Vision

• What is the mission?
• What makes a good mission statement?
• Best practice in developing and implementing the mission
• What is strategy?
• External and internal realities
• What is a strategic vision?
• The scope of a strategic vision
• The nature of a strategic vision
• Characteristics of an effective strategic vision
• Strategic outcomes
• Best practice in developing and implementing the strategic vision

The Board-Head relationship

• The most important relationship
• “Supporting God on a good day"
• Overseeing the Head
• Hiring the Head
• Responsibilities of the Head 
• The Head’s remuneration
• The Head’s evaluation
• Engagement with the Head
• The Chair’s role
• Trustees’ (board members’) roles

Board meetings and dynamics

• The body corporate
• Professional courtesy
• Using the agenda to implement the mission and vision
• Reports to the board
• The strategic agenda
• Successful board meetings
• Accurate minutes as a record of decisions and actions
• Best practice in conducting board meetings
• The importance of teamwork

Board composition and succession

• The trustee’s (board member’s) job description
• Selecting trustees (board members) - the process
• Selecting trustees (board members) - the criteria
• Recruit character - train skills
• The pre-induction program
• Trustee (board member) induction
• Trustee (board member) removal
• Best practice in board composition and succession

Fiduciary duties compliance

• The three ‘duties’ of the board:
• Duty of care
• Duty of loyalty
• Duty of Obedience
• Legal compliance
• Governance and financing
• What makes independent schools unique?
• Accreditation
• Why accreditation is important
• Best practice in legal matters
• Financial sustainability
• Responsible vs exceptional boards
• Best practice in finance matters
• Resources
• The board’s role in resourcing the school
• Best practice in resource management
• Program oversight
• The board’s role in program oversight
• Best practice in program oversight
• Risk management
• What is risk?
• The board’s role in risk management
• Risk management checklist
• Identifying risk
• Internal controls
• Risk likelihood and consequences
• A risk register template
• Hypervigilance vs indifference: the zone of proportional scrutiny
• Risk as opportunity
• Best practice in risk management

Other board duties

• Board policies
• School policies
• Environmental sustainability
• School reputation
• School demographics
• Change leadership and innovation
• The future of schools and education
• Shifting paradigms
• The changing nature of work
• Paul Nail’s theory of compliance-acceptance
• Compliance vs conversion
• Role shifts during periods of change
• Best practice in change leadership
• Making change effective

Community Engagement

• Engagement with the School Executive
• Engagement with the faculty and staff
• Engagement with parents, alumni and the community
• The importance of appropriate communication

Evaluating the board

• The ‘fiduciary duty - mission - evaluation’ cycle.
• Trustee (board member) evaluation
• Board evaluation
• Domains and dimensions
• Measuring ‘best practice’
• The process of evaluation

Because of the large volume of content contained in this course (like all N-courses) discussion and question time are restricted.  Boards that wish to engage in productive discussion of the content should consider covering this content in greater depth in one or more of the S-type courses that are also offered.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon successful completion of the course, a signed certificate is issued to the school stating the name of the course, the content covered, the duration of the course, the venue, and the names of those persons who attended.  Upon request, schools may instead request an individual certificate for each attendee.  Participating schools also receive a password-protected PDF copy of the presentation slides used during the workshop for the use of attendees.