From California鈥檚 Death Row to school governance, the Confederation of School Trusts鈥 Samira Sadeghi explains how the roles are more linked than you might think. When Samira Sadeghi is delivering training to support sector leaders getting governance right, she explains how insights gleaned about human fallibility from her time working as a lawyer on death row can help. The eight prisoners Sadeghi, director of trust governance for the Confederation of School Trusts, represented during her twelve-year legal career on California鈥檚 Death Row 鈥渁lmost without fail鈥 had one thing in common. They had all experienced 鈥減retty major traumas鈥 before the age of three 鈥 the most important time for brain development. The trauma left their prefrontal cortexes 鈥渟everely compromised鈥, she says, meaning their 鈥渋mpulse control was gone, and they were left on edge and stressed鈥. There鈥檚 a 鈥渄irect parallel鈥 between the prefrontal cortex and school governance, Sadeghi adds, as both are where 鈥渄ecision making, monitoring your performance, problem solving, planning ahead, and goal-directed behaviour come from鈥. As with governance, when these elements 鈥渇unction poorly鈥, it becomes 鈥渧ery difficult to succeed鈥. Samira Sadeghi Human rights passion Sadeghi鈥檚 desire to work in human rights came after two of her uncles and an aunt were imprisoned for attending political rallies in Iran, where she lived as a child for six years. Her extended family are well-educated (most of them are doctors) which meant when revolution broke out in 1979, they were able to 鈥渞ebuild their lives abroad鈥. Her immediate family returned to America, where Sadeghi was born, and settled in Los Angeles. Studying political science at the University of California, she spent a year at the UK鈥檚 University of Exeter, where she met her future husband. She stayed to complete an international history masters at the London School of Economics, before joining human rights organisation Amnesty International on an internship. Tasks included sifting through 鈥渉orrible鈥 photographs of torture and extrajudicial killings in Guatemala and writing posts about political prisoners 鈥 many of whom were Iranian. Samira Sadeghi as a child After moving back to San Franciso with her partner, Sadeghi studied law and joined a project working with prisoners on Death Row at the city鈥檚 San Quentin prison. She became 鈥渇ascinated鈥 with her task of telling the 鈥渋ncredibly rich, powerful and compelling鈥 life stories of those she represented. 鈥淲hen you humanize someone by telling their story, people feel they understand them and it鈥檚 a lot harder to kill them.鈥 Life stories on Death Row Three of the prisoners had spent their entire adult life incarcerated. To extract their stories faithfully, she had to learn 鈥渉ow to be comfortable with silence, and ask open questions鈥 (she normally 鈥渢alks nonstop鈥). She would take in popcorn on her prison visits. 鈥淎ny treat they got came from us. They loved being able to interact with another human.鈥 The envelope of a letter to Sadeghi from one of her death row clients some of whom discovered creative sides of themselves while in prison Her first case was an 18-year-old jailed for three murders in quick succession, two of which were drug related. Two days after her last day in the job, the court finally granted him a hearing for a claim on the grounds of intellectual disability. But four years later, he was resentenced to life in prison. 鈥淭here are no winners in Death Row work 鈥 It’s such a painful thing to imagine someone living in a 8ft by 4ft box for the rest of their lives, as a result of having 鈥 experienced such horrendous acts of violence against them as a child that it warps their ability to behave within our societal norms.鈥 Identifying the path from trauma to criminal behaviour prompts Sadeghi to worry whether teachers are being 鈥渢rained enough on how to spot trauma induced behaviours鈥. 鈥淲hen a kid comes across as not having any remorse or impulsivity, there could be a trauma basis for that鈥. She cautions that 鈥渁n authoritarian attitude鈥 will 鈥渏ust make that behaviour worse鈥. A drawing of a parrot made by a death row client Moving upstream Death Row work was 鈥渘ever a 9 to 5 job鈥 and she quit to 鈥渕ake up for lost time鈥 with her two children, then three and six. After they moved to London in 2010, Sadeghi became a governor at her kids鈥 school, Ark Academy. It led to a job as Ark鈥檚 regional governance officer. She sees the career move as akin to a quote from Desmond Tutu: 鈥楾here comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.鈥 During four years at Ark, she noticed how the 鈥渢raditional school governance model that worked for a single maintained school has been superimposed on trusts鈥. Academy trusts have a board of trustees who, like maintained school governors, set the strategic vision and look over financial performance 鈥 but across the wider trust instead. However, each academy still has a governing board, and the sector still seems to be grappling with exactly how these should operate most effectively. Sadeghi believed back then, and still believes now, that governance needs 鈥渢o be completely reimagined鈥. When she joined Academies Enterprise Trust as its head of governance in 2020, she set about doing just that. Then one of England鈥檚 biggest trusts, AET had been in 鈥渞eally bad shape鈥, which Sadeghi blames partly on it being 鈥渢oo big鈥 and 鈥渟o spread out鈥 geographically. The then new chief executive, Julian Drinkall, who hired Sadeghi, had controversially removed all local governing boards and brought in paid chairs, declaring that 鈥減layground bully parents鈥 would no longer be allowed on boards, only those with educational expertise. Sadeghi understood his motives for the 鈥渃ommand and control鈥 approach. 鈥淗e had to turn things around quickly, and needed educationalists monitoring the situation.鈥 A school picture in Iran Sadeghi is holding the sign Academy councils But, she started to overhaul the model after new chief executive Rebecca Boomer-Clark took over the trust in 2021. They launched 56 new 鈥榓cademy councils鈥 in six months, reinjecting boards with a community focus that included two elected parents, up to two employees and a council representative. Sadeghi believes at the trust local level, it鈥檚 鈥渞eally important to get rid of the word governor, which is outdated because it’s not about governing 鈥 we are conveying that their role is the same as in a maintained school, which it isn’t鈥. Some trusts are doing this. Examples include advisory board members, council members, and champions. Sadeghi says those in the role can help trusts 鈥渦nderstand that school鈥檚 community, so we can contextualize our strategies to make sure they鈥檙e anchored in that community.鈥 At AET, those who had previously sat on governing boards were invited to join the new councils. Although 鈥渟ome chafed because they were used to being able to make certain decisions鈥, the ones that AET retained were mainly local people who 鈥渂ought into the idea鈥. Governance image problem Sadeghi joined CST in September to run one of its ten professional communities, with hers representing trustees and governance leaders. She loves the role which involves 鈥済etting to indulge in fascinating things鈥 from local governance to attendance, and ethical leadership. The 鈥榬eimagining governance鈥 sessions she runs encourage attendees to 鈥渢hrow everything you know out the window鈥. She believes doing so can help with governor recruitment, which is in dire straits (a record 77 per cent of governor boards told the NGA last year it was an issue). Governance 鈥渟uffers from an image problem [of] a bunch of old white men sitting around a table with agendas and minutes and policies鈥. Some governor descriptions also sound 鈥渂oring 鈥 I wouldn鈥檛 want to do it. But if you posted a job role that involves partnering with the community and developing relationships with organisations, that would really appeal to me.鈥 She believes that trusts, including headteachers, should be out headhunting in their local communities for board members. That could mean asking 鈥渢he guy who owns the business across the street from the school. We need to be recruiting in a totally different way for different people.鈥 There are signs the DfE agrees on the change agenda. Last week, it published two separate governance guides, tailored separately for and . 鈥淗allelujah!鈥 Sadeghi says. And getting governance right is more important than ever, she adds, given that relationships with parents have 鈥済one completely sideways鈥. CST has warned that the recent rise in complaints is 鈥渘ot sustainable鈥. A slide Sadeghi uses to explain parallels between the prefrontal cortex and governance Governance culture shift Sadeghi says if she can help enact culture change in the education sector, it will overtake her work on death row as her proudest achievement. She believes progress has been hindered by 鈥渢oo much thinking about reputations 鈥 The focus should be on what is good for the children and adults in your organisations.鈥 She adds the sector more generally needs to be 鈥渓ess adult-centred and more child and community-centred鈥. For example, she questions whether, 鈥渨hen schools cite ‘loss of autonomy’ as the reason they don’t want to join a larger trust, is that decision based on the children or the adults?鈥 But she thinks the sector is working hard on that shift. She was on the steering group behind the Academy Trust Governance Code, launched in October 2023 to 鈥渆nshrine principles around how to behave 鈥 to be open, transparent, collaborative, and meaningfully engaged with your community and stakeholders”. She believes that the code, which is 鈥渧oluntary and aspirational鈥, will bear fruit where it is implemented, providing 鈥渁 voice for all stakeholders at all levels, greater public confidence in our schools, and enable trusts to reclaim their role as institutions anchored in their communities鈥.