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Join the National College

Become a member of the National College and take advantage of the membership benefits.

We are now providing leadership development opportunities, training workshops, online courses and much more for chairs of governors and governors. Find out more about our membership benefits.

Schools and governors: a critical friendship

Ldr article looking at the relationship between heads and chairs of governors.

Looking for a national leader of governance (NLG) in your area?

Chairs of governors training and support

We have been given a remit by the government to provide training and support for chairs of governors. We are pleased to be working with the National Governors’ Association (NGA), the National Co-ordinators of Governor Services (NCOGS) and the Foundation, Aided Schools and Academies National Association (FASNA) to develop this offer.

Being a chair of governors is a key leadership role and governing bodies are central to the effective accountability of schools and academies. Leading the governing body and working in partnership with the headteacher, the chair plays a pivotal role in school improvement.

Leading governors: regional training workshops

The College held a series of workshops  in each region during February and March 2012

Find out what happened at the workshops.

Leading governors: school improvement grants

The National College is offering one-off grants for groups of governors who would like to run facilitated workshops to share best practice within their local area.

The grants aim to improve school leadership by:

  • encouraging collaboration across governing bodies
  • improving the sharing of best practice across governing bodies
  • sharing examples of governing bodies' contributions to school improvement

Find out more about the school improvement grants.

Leading governors booklet

This booklet explores the role of the chair of governors and provides an overview of the new programme of training and support for this important job.

You can order a printed copy of the booklet by emailing chairofgovernors@nationalcollege.org.uk.

Leading governors: leadership development offer

From April 2012, a leadership development offer will be available for chairs of governors. This will include a collection of useful resources and a leadership development module.

We will also be providing subject-specific training through licensees, including topics such as:

Find out more about the leadership development offer.

National leaders of governance

We are also developing a role where outstanding chairs of governors will work with other chairs to help them to develop and improve. This builds on the work we have already done to support excellent school leaders to lead beyond their schools in the National Leaders of Education and National Support Schools Programme and the Local Leaders of Education Programme.

We now want to offer the same opportunity to outstanding chairs. This support will be targeted at specific schools and academies where improvement is needed, and where the chair of governors would benefit from additional support.

Find out more and apply.