Abstract
The appointment of student governors to the governing board is mandatory in further education (FE) colleges across the UK. There is, however, confusion and lack of clarity over the role of the student governor, and little empirical research, especially involving direct observation, has been undertaken which sheds light on this. This paper examines how the role of the student governor is understood by governing boards and how it is enacted in practice. Over one calendar year, we observed and video/audio-recorded governing board meetings in eight FE colleges across the UK, two in each UK country (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales). In addition, we interviewed key actors and spoke to student governors. Our findings reveal a lack of understanding about the role of the student governor which creates a tension between student governors acting in an advisory capacity as part of the governing body, and student governors representing learner voice. We conclude with recommendations for boards aimed at facilitating meaningful engagement of the student governor in governing processes.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 561-573 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Further and Higher Education |
Volume | 46 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 14 Oct 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 21 Apr 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding:The project Processes and practices of governing in further education colleges in the UK: How do governing boards realise the strategic aims of the organisation? was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/R00322X/1]. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
Keywords
- Student governor
- education governance
- further education
- learner voice
- student voice