Muslim Governors in State Schools
There
are nearly 500,000 British Muslim children in full-time state school
education. The challenges that face Muslim pupils in terms of academic
attainment and how their spiritual, and religious needs are being met
should be a source of concern for all of us. Muslim representative
within governing bodies is of utmost importance.
MTEC aims to:
-
Increasing the
number of Muslim governors in schools
-
Increasing
awareness of the importance of education within the Muslim community
-
Increasing
awareness of issues affecting Muslims within the general community
The school Governing body
The
Education Reform Act and Local Management of Schools have greatly
increased the role of the Governing Body and diminished that of the
Local Education Authority in the running of state maintained schools.
Henceforth School governing bodies have effectively been given the role
of making very important decisions that effect the education of our
children and on how schools are run.
School governors share a common belief that children should receive the
best possible standard of education and the governing body should
reflect the diversity of the local community, being answerable to
parents and the local community.
Some
of the things expected of governors include:
-
Promoting high
standards of achievement
-
Planning the
school's long-term future
-
Overseeing the
school's aims, values and ethos
-
Monitoring the
performance of the school against those standards
-
Acting as a
critical friend to the Headteacher
-
Budgetary
allocation and control
-
Appointing senior
staff
-
Ensuring
that the national curriculum is taught and religious education and
collective worship are provided.
-
Produce
policies on a number of issues including sex education, special needs
and charging for school trips etc
-
In addition most
governing bodies have sub-committees which are chaired by a single
governor and which focuses on particular areas such as finance,
curriculum, personnel and premises.
The school Governing body
In
order to ensure that the school has input from a variety of sources and
meets its original charter governors are appointed from a variety of
sources: Parent governors, Teacher Governors, Community Governors and
Local Authority Governors.
-
Parent governors
are elected by parents of pupils on the school roll at the time of the
election. They must be parents of pupils on the school roll themselves
to stand for election. Parent governors do not have to stand down if
their child leaves the school during the period they serve, though
they may do so if they wish. They may stand for re-election at the end
of their term of office if they still have a child on the school roll.
If not enough parents stand for election, parent governors may be
appointed by the governing body.
-
Governors
appointed by the LEA can be re-appointed when they have served out
their current term of office, provided they have not been disqualified
for missing meetings of the full governing body. They can also be
removed by the LEA.
-
The Headteacher is
a member of the governing body unless he or she chooses not to be. In
either case, the Headteacher has the right to attend all meetings of
the governing body.
-
Teacher governors
are elected by, and from, the teachers at the school. Any person
working as a teacher at the school is eligible to stand for election,
or to vote. Teacher governors can stand for re-election when they have
served out their current term. When they cease to teach at the school
they have to stand down from the governing body.
-
Staff governors
are elected by, and from, the non-teaching staff at the school. They
may be employed under a contract of employment or a contract for
services to work at the school. If they cease to have a contract to
work at the school, they must stand down from the governing body.
-
Community
governors are chosen by at least two-thirds of governors who are not
community governors. When deciding whom to co-opt, governors should
make sure that the governing body reflects a balance of interests. It
is desirable for the local business community to be represented on the
governing body. Community governors can be removed from office by at
least two-thirds of the full governing body who have not been
community governors, but can be re-appointed. If they have been
disqualified for missing meetings of the full governing body, they may
not be immediately re-appointed as community governors.
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