These last couple of weeks have been tough. My daughters came home from school with stories about how the uniform policy was being enforced that did not sit well with my values as a parent or feminist. Those stories were echoed by many other parents on Facebook. I spent that particular evening discussing with my daughters about moving schools or being homeschooled. They were more pragmatic than me. They said that was a stupid idea. But I have since been consumed by thoughts about whether I should resign from my other role, that of a parent governor of said school (and currently vice chair of governors).

Being a school governor is a thankless task. Literally. I volunteer my time. I currently work on an hourly rate, so recently the days I have spent at the school doing various governor-y things, have meant I have lost the money I could have been earning.

There are various bodies that offer governor training which on the whole are optional. Recently training I have registered for has been cancelled due to, Im assuming, a lack of numbers. Some of us governors take time out to read educational documents and guidance that are sent to us or that we have found online so that we are better informed. Not all, since it’s not mandatory.

So you’d think the role of a governor is largely irrelevant if it can be done by anyone without any in-depth knowledge or experience and without any payment or thanks. You couldn’t be further from the truth. The buck stops with the governing body. Look at any court case involving a school, any type of case: financial, criminal, health and safety, or employment, it’s the governing body in the dock. Essentially the chair of governors is the one in the frame if anything goes seriously wrong. And you know those school inspections that are currently having so much media attention, they only happen once every three to five years. In between, the governors are ultimately accountable for ensuring the school meets standards and challenging the senior leadership team when it doesn’t. The school has an advisor, but they are only there to ‘advise’.

Schools would just prefer to be allowed to get on with their jobs. Having to justify their actions and decisions to a group of people who, on the whole, have never worked in or have any experience of education, to some schools, is an unwanted additional hoop they have to jump through (in an already hoop-overloaded arena). Sometimes the frustration of staff about the governance process during various activities such as meetings and training is tangible. Sometimes they unwittingly radiate not wanting to be there, just wanting to go home to their families or actually doing what they are paid to do, teach. They are already overworked, underpaid and underfinanced. Who can blame them for being unable to maintain their full patience levels at the end of long hard working days.

All voluntary.

Being a governor is a thankless task. I like to think I do it OK and am fulfilling a role the school has to have, even if they don’t like it. Over the years I’ve developed a thick skin.

The thirteen years each child has to spend in school and the education they receive is ultimately down to a bunch of (primarily) white, retired men. Yay us for currently having mainly working people and a mixture of males and females.

But there are limitations to what a governor can do. We can only ‘govern’ and not manage. This is what Wikipedia says (not always the best source for information, but all the other places were in gobblygook).

Governance is the process of making and enforcing decisions within an organization or society. It is the process of interactions through the laws, social norms, power (social and political) or language as structured in communication of an organized society over a social system (family, social group, formal or informal organization, a territory under a jurisdiction or across territories). It is done by the government of a state, by a market, or by a network. It is the process of choosing the right course among the actors involved in a collective problem that leads to the creation, reinforcement, or reproduction of acceptable conduct and social order”. In lay terms, it could be described as the political processes that exist in and between formal institutions. Governance, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Governance&oldid=1158333282 (last visited June 17, 2023).

Basically, we set a policy and let the school implement it.

The current uniform policy was agreed by the governing body in March 2023. Although tbh, it hasn’t changed significantly in the twelve years since I’ve been a governor there. I’ve raised my concerns about it multiple times but I’ve always been outvoted. I wasn’t at the March meeting. We are a democracy. What we agree as a majority has to be adopted by us all. I try very hard not to undermine that position. In public, I will talk about the reasons for a uniform policy: it aids safeguarding (since you can immediately see who’s in/out of belonging to the group), it reduces bullying of pupils who cannot buy big money logos or designer brands, and research shows that if you enforce small rules, the bigger ones are more likely to be abided by. Those are all points I can stand behind.

But when my daughters come home from school upset, missing lessons, lacking concentration, having panic attacks, and then refusing to attend school because they don’t like the way the uniform rules make them look and feel. Then I wobble at my ability to remain unbiased.

I had arranged to spend a day at the school covering interviews the week this was happening. I decided to fulfill that obligation because the interviews can’t go ahead without three governors (another stupid rule not set by the school). There was a full governing body meeting the following week that was going to be discussing the uniform policy, as the media and Local Council attention had required them to do. So I thought I would sit and listen and try to be persuaded.

I was not persuaded.

But I remain conflicted regarding resigning. Is it really the school’s fault?

The school informed the governing body that all the other schools in the area (and most in the UK) had similar uniform policies and some were stricter and enforced more draconianally. The school boasted that its uniform policy was one of the only ones that didn’t have rules for girls and boys separately. All children (a term that deserves its own blog, for another day), all LEARNERS could wear skirts, trousers, or fitted shorts. They said that the policy is inclusive for all males, females, trans and neurodiverse pupils. (I’m still unsure if they actually mean gender-neutral rather than neurodiverse, but maybe they mean sensory issues, I’ll get over it. )

My daughters say that the school has reminded them of the standards required by the policy with regard to skirt length, jewellery, makeup, and hair length. All areas of dress disproportionately affecting girls more than boys (although obviously also some boys and other learners). The school says that they have also been picking up on hoodies (that could be used to hide vapes) and logoed clothes.

Some people argue that if we don’t enforce the standards of the uniform, then our young people will never get jobs since they will refuse to wear whatever uniform/standards an employer insists on. I’ve worked in many places, and nowhere has the strict suit-and-tie culture anymore. In fact, some employers actively reject candidates who show up in suits and ties. My other older children go to work in a uniform either provided for them by their employer or abiding by the rules such as “all black”. Girls since skirts were invented have been wearing them too short (according to who?) and they grow into adults who know how different environments have different rules of dress. We need to give young people more credit. The younger generation is growing up in a world that embraces (and will increasingly embrace) individuality and diversity. Young people have always wanted to be able to express themselves. The current generation even more so. Employers know that and are adapting to them. Anyone who thinks otherwise is totally out of touch with the modern world of work.

The new curriculum encourages young people to be curious, independent learners yet apparently they also want them to look exactly the same. Young people in secondary education are at the age where they are learning about themselves and their identity. Young people have no control about where they live, who their parents are, or what their home life is like. They can only control how short their skirts are, how many earrings they have in, or how long their hair is. US Soldiers have their identities stripped away so they can be remoulded into following orders. I will never want that for my children or any young person. Wear odd shoes and dye your hair pink. Who cares? (Hmm, wonder who did that?)

Some parents have objected to the ‘measuring’ of girls skirts. The school has said categorically that no skirts are being ‘measured’. But the policy does call for the skirts to be no more than 5cm above the knee so they are ‘visually checking’ adherence. My opinion is that pupils should still receive an excellent education if they came to school in their underwear. But that’s not a popular opinion!

Modern education understands the importance of well-being for young people and teachers. Research shows that attendance at school has significantly dropped since COVID. Anyone doing any research into mental health understands how important it is for good mental health to be able to be your authentic self. My school has some fantastic well-being programs. I’d even say sector-leading. It’s an area of my school that I am actually proud of. And the years of hard work, money invested, and staff dedication gets wiped out by enforcing a stupid uniform policy. The school told the governing body how upsetting the bad press, complaints, and actions of parents have been on the staff. How they feel undermined and demotivated. The request of us as governors was to stand behind the staff to show moral support. I do stand behind them, I’m truly sorry they have been made to feel upset. But the solution seems simple to me, critically reflect on whether the actions taken to enforce the policy were the right ones. Not just defaulting to ‘following orders’. Is there a better way to enforce the policy? If the actions were proportionate to the need, then maybe its the policy itself that has caused the furore? And that should ultimately by down to the governing body to consider (of which the SLT is a part). Just going back to ‘following orders’ to a democratically endorsed policy is lazy on us all.

Dont misunderstand me, in my humble opinion, it’s not the staff’s fault. They are just following how they have been taught to be teachers and how to implement policies and enforce behavioural standards. They are just doing what their senior leaders have asked them to do. The senior leaders are doing what they have been told to do by their own seniors, advisors, professional experience, statutory guidance and the governing body. They are enforcing a policy, the same as an absence management policy or an examination policy.

But do those rules, training, knolwedge, understanding, experience and policies always match new and differing opinions?

When I first joined the governing body, 12 years ago, one of the first things I asked about was whether the teachers were receiving radicalisation training. I was told that doesn’t happen in our community. A few years ago, we were informed that all teachers were mandated by statutory bodies to receive radicalisation training.

Several years ago, I asked about lock-in/lock-down procedures (as opposed to evacuation) in the event of an intruder. I was told that was not possible due to the location and age of our buildings and was so unlikely it wasn’t necessary. At the meeting last week, we were told that they were now required by statutory bodies to have lockdown as well as evacuation procedures in the event of an intruder.

Maybe I’m just ahead of my time.

But wouldn’t it be amazing for us and our school if we actually seriously considered some of these wacky ideas (not just mine) and became sector-leading rather than reactive? How great an experience we would be giving our young people!

Some argue that the public sector, including education, is like an oil tanker, it takes ages for a change in direction to be actioned and detectable. But if COVID has taught us anything, it’s that we can, if we want, turn an oil tanker around pretty quickly.

We must support them to do better.

We must do better at fixing the problems at the source. Teaching our teachers, informing the policymakers of how society is changing, and continuously adapting to society. And that’s not just in education. Just because “we’ve always done it that way” doesn’t mean it’s still the right way. We must get better at allowing the people at the source to adapt and work outside decades old policy, procedure, training and guidelines. We must get better at teaching them how to.

I remain focused on my desire to change the world for the better for our young people. Im just not sure the school governing body is the right place to do it.