Governor and trustee recruitment can be a challenge, but ultimately, it is up to the board to put a succession plan in place and if necessary, recruit new governors and trustees who will bring with them the necessary skills and increase the diversity and effectiveness of the team.

A skills audit is recommended as a starting point to ascertain what skills, if any, the board is lacking. The NGA has produced a skills audit. NGA: Governing board skills audit

Governor and trustee recruitment and training

Most boards will allocate a governor or trustee to oversee recruitment and training. The Recruitment, Education and Training Governor – link role training on GovernorHub is designed to support this role.

Part of this role will be to identify any upcoming vacancies (your clerk can advise) and clarify what process will need to be followed to fill the vacancy e.g., parent or staff elections, foundation appointments or a governing board appointment (co-opted and LA).

Co-opted governors and trustees

Below are some ideas that the board could consider for co-opted governor or trustee recruitment.

• Register your governor/trustee vacancies on Teach in Herts if you are a subscriber. 
• Register with Inspiring Governance who are linked to the DfE and provide a governor recruitment service
• Register with Governors for Schools who are a national charity that match up potential governors with schools
• Produce a tailored advert which explains exactly who you are looking for and highlights the benefits and rewards of being a governor at your school
• Organise a recruitment campaign on social media
• Contact local companies to see if any of their staff would be interested in supporting your school.
• Some employers encourage their staff to volunteer and even offer governor leave because they value the skills that being a governor develops. Many employers encourage their staff to volunteer and even offer governor leave because they value the skills that being a governor develops. We have a template letter in our Governor recruitment folder in the HFL GovernorHub resources section that you are welcome to use (if your school does not subscribe to GovernorHub, please contact us and we will forward you the template
• Contact local secondary schools to see if any of their staff would be interested in becoming a governor or trustee at your school to gain valuable CPD.
• Use your parents to network. Try putting something in the newsletter about the skills you need (keep it simple), but actively ask parents to use their professional and personal networks to reach out and ask colleagues and friends to consider school governance at your school
• Add a “volunteering” section to your school website to provide information for anyone who might be interested
• Try a leaflet drop? There are example and templates on GovernorHub - perhaps you could produce something similar?

Remember to remove any adverts etc., from your newsletters/website or any external companies used to promote your vacancy once the vacancy is filled.

Parent governors or trustees

If you have parent governor (maintained schools), then you must run an election to try and fill the positions. There are no statutory rules that you must follow, other than ensuring that the election process is fair and accessible to all parents, but we do have suggested guidance available from governance@hfleducation.org

If no-one nominates themselves after you have sent out the election publicity, then you can approach a parent with a child at the school who you think might be suitable and appoint them.

If no parents at the school are willing, then you can approach parents of former pupils of the school and appoint them, and if that is not possible, then you can approach any parent of school age children from outside of the school. NB Parent governors recruited in this way would be ‘appointed’ parent governors, not ‘elected’.

Make sure that your election publicity:

• Explains what the role involves and who can apply
• Sets out your ideal expectations and highlights any preference for specific skills – although you can’t make them a requirement
• Highlights the benefits, both personally and professionally, of being a governor e.g., skills and experience in attending meetings, working as a team, finance, project management, strategic planning etc.
• Mitigates common concerns about time commitments, lack of experience, peer pressure from parents etc.   
• Is publicised in the right places e.g., in the school itself, in the newsletter, on the website, on any school social media, at school events, with the school’s PTA and alumni
• Promotes the governor role all year round by increasing the board’s profile on the school website, in your newsletters and at school events etc.

Academies need to check their articles of association (for trusts) or terms of reference (for LGBs) for details of how parent trustee vacancies are filled, however the DfE model articles of association do recommend that parent trustees on trust boards and local governing boards are elected.