红桃影视

Governing boards have been told to collate and publish their own diversity data 鈥� but campaigners warn the move is not enough to address “alarming” representation numbers.

The Department for Education has today published guidance encouraging and schools to collect the information on its trustees.

Officials stressed the figures 鈥渕ust be [made] widely accessible鈥�, as they aim to make boards 鈥渋ncreasingly reflective of the communities they serve鈥�.

However, bosses of the National Governance Association doubt 鈥減ublishing data is going to do much鈥� to convince black, Asian or minority ethnic people to volunteer.

‘Recruitment drive could improve representation’

In the newly released guidance, the government stated: “Diversity is important and we want governing boards to be increasingly reflective of the communities they serve.”

“We encourage academy trust boards to collect and publish diversity data about the board and any local committees. Information should be widely accessible to members of the school community and the public.

“Board members can opt out of sharing their information, including protected characteristics, at any given time, including after publication.”

It added 鈥渢here is no prescriptive way to collect diversity data from volunteers鈥�, as this 鈥渘eeds to be done on a voluntary basis鈥�.

The government suggested 鈥渟chools may prefer to adopt a similar approach to how they collate the diversity data of pupils鈥�.

But Sam Henson, the NGA director of policy and information, said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 enough on its own.

鈥淭hey need to be doing way more to increase the awareness of what governing bodies do and why people should get involved as it鈥檚 largely unseen now 鈥� just tweaking the guidance doesn鈥檛 do that. This could be done through a recruitment drive led by the DfE.鈥�

The NGA revealed in September just 6 per cent of school governors and trustees who responded to its annual survey were black, Asian or minority ethnic.

The study of 4,000 governance volunteers also showed the number aged under 40 was also the lowest on record, halving over the past five years to 6 per cent.

The findings suggest boards have become less representative in recent years. Twelve months before the most recent survey,

‘Figures paint an alarming picture’

Henson said the diversity figures underline 鈥渢here just isn鈥檛 enough movement on increasing the overall percentage of black, Asian and minority ethnic trustees鈥�.

鈥淭he figures don鈥檛 really reflect the communities that governing boards serve – the truth is they paint an alarming picture,鈥� he continued.

鈥淚鈥檓 not convinced boards publishing data on this is going to do much, but anything to get the discussion focused on this is a positive.鈥�