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Academic Staff Governor Roles through the Lens of Habitus and Communities of Practice

In observation of the initial findings of our governance research project, there was a particular focus on human social and decisional capital impacting the decision-making of Academic Staff Governors (ASGs). I am interested in observing how this may be enhanced through the lens of habitus (Bourdieu, 1996) and communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991). I focused on the positioning of the primary school ASG and had the opportunity to observe ASGs’ positioning in secondary school and HE settings too.

Bernadette Reilly
Doctoral Student

A higher education tutor discussing hate and extremism with a student.

Project lead: Dr. Abdulla Sodiq; see Round 2’s introductory article 

In terms of the perceptions of the primary school’s Academic Staff Governor (P-ASG) through the lens of Professional Capital (Iredale, 2018; Perkins, 2018, Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012), the P-ASG valued the opportunity to be part of the decision mechanism of the school. There was a belief that the role enhanced their professional capital offering status and currency for career promotion in the future. This governor had not received any induction, which may have set out the required skills, clear guidelines, and expectations of governance engagement to maximise decision-making and hence school improvement. The result was a positioning of the ASG role from their habitus, which came under pressure interacting with the field of education governance (Bourdieu, 1996). In this environment, research has shown (James, 2011) a governor may take on a passive position lacking confidence in dealing with holding management to account (Mead, 2004). A potential consequence of this position is that decisions in school improvement lack the demanding dispositions required to ensure children's learning is dynamically evolving through effective inclusive decision-making (Bourdieu, 1991).

These emerging findings resonate with my research on community governor decision-making. In schools where governors have the same ad hoc induction experience as the ASG above, school improvement may become ineffective, leading to Ofsted categories of Special Measures or Requiring Improvement. My research has focused on community governors’ voice through awareness of Bourdieu's conceptual framework of habitus (Bourdieu, 1991). In sharing life histories and providing supportive data collection methodologies of identity box and walking interviews (Mullaly et al., 2023; Clark and Emmel, 2010), it became apparent that the human social and cultural capital was vibrant, offering considerable potential for governance decision-making and school improvement. A lack of clarity of roles and opportunities to share cultural knowledge and agency alongside the limitations of the board meeting structure colluded to ignore the considerable potential.

In the secondary school and HE setting, the two ASGs experienced the same lack of training and clarity of role. They felt they did not have the skills and thus could not impact decision-making and were present to ratify decisions. All ASGs were not involved in all aspects of decision-making. The approach to being included was arbitrary, and the ASGs felt that, in some cases, dominant coalitions made decisions before the meeting and presented as resolved solutions an issue highlighted by van Ees et al. (2009) in his study of corporate governance.

My understanding from my own separate research, collaborating with community governors over four years and providing opportunities for shared learning through a framework of Communities of Practice, suggest governors found a strength in knowledge sharing which they reflected on as building their confidence. An allocated time for reflection reflexivity and group learning may lead to more informed democratic decision-making.

In conclusion, this project's initial findings indicate weak reflexivity or sharing to clarify and develop new knowledge (see much earlier discussions by Lave and Wenger, 1991). The ASGs are unsure of their role and training on the job. There is a political perspective of power and control driven by policy and finance and held by dominant coalitions, as found by van Ees et al., 2009. This structure may create vulnerable learning communities and lead to ineffective decision-making.

References:

  • Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms of Capital, in J. G. Richardson (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood Press. pp. 241-258.
  • Bourdieu, P. (1996) The rules of art: genesis and structure of the literary field. Cambridge: DfE, 2010. The importance of teaching. London: DfE. DfE, 2011a. Academies [online]. Available from: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/types-of-schools/academies. DfE,
  • Clark, A. and Emmel, N. (2010), Using walking interviews, National Centre for Research Methods, University of Manchester. Retrieved from: http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/1323/1/13-toolkit-walking-interviews.pdf
  • DfE 2017 A Competency Framework for Governance The knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for effective governance in maintained schools, academies and multi-academy trusts. January 2017
  • DfE 2019 Governance handbook For academies, multi-academy trusts, and maintained Schools March 2019 
  • Horner. K, (2016) Co-constructing research. A critical review of ADRC is available online, https://connected-communities.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/16019-Co-constructing-Research-Lit-Review-dev-06.p [Last Accessed 02/01/2021]
  • James, C (2011) School Governing Bodies in England Under Pressure: The Effects of Socio-economic Context and School Performance. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 39(4), 414–433. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143211404258
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  • Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991) Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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  • Van Ees, H., Gabrielsson, J. and Huse, M. (2009) Toward a Behavioral Theory of Boards and Corporate Governance. Corporate governance: an international review, 17(3), pp. 307-319.
  • Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wilkins, A. (2015) Education reform in England. International journal of inclusive education (19:11).
  • Wilkins, A. (2015) Professionalising school governance: the disciplinary effects of school autonomy and inspection on the changing role of school governors. Journal of Education Policy, 30(2), pp. 182-200.