Women in Leadership Network: Report on Women in FE Governance
Report on surveys of Further Education Governors and Clerks to Governors : Introduction and summary of the findings Oct 2012
1. Introduction
The FE Women’s Leadership Network (WLN) is undertaking a research project to gain a better understanding of the involvement of women on college boards of governors. The project is looking at how the make-up and operation of governing bodies have changed over the past 10 years and if their gender composition influences the way they operate or see their role. The research aims to shine a light on the performance of the FE sector in the context of the Davies Report in 2011 about Women on corporate Boards, which highlighted the under-representation of women in Board positions, considered the positive contributions of those women who were on Boards and made a series of recommendations to improve the gender mix. The project was also prompted by a direct approach from women Chairs who were interested in a full and accurate view of the sector as well as in forming a support and exchange network for themselves.
Part of the primary research involved surveying governors and clerks to governors to find out how women participate in and influence college governance. This report focuses on the information obtained from two web-based surveys: one completed by governors and the other by clerks to governors. Follow-up interviews will be held with a selection of the respondents to explore interesting aspects in more detail.  We are grateful to the Association of Colleges (AoC) for publicising the surveys and to the Network for Clerks who kindly circulated the survey for us. Both governors and clerks completed the surveys via embedded links to the Women’s Leadership Network’s website.
Initial desk research sought to establish how many women sit on Boards and how many chair Boards and Committees. 
2. Summary of findings
The findings are based on the responses received from two separate surveys, issued simultaneously to governors and clerks to governing bodies of all English FE colleges over a six week period in May-June 2012. The findings are based on responses from 120 governors of 50 colleges and from the clerks of 81 colleges. 
Profile of governing bodies and governors
The average size of the governing bodies represented in the surveys was 18 of which, on average,  were independent members with one vacancy per governing body. Overall, the ratio of male to female governors was 11:6 – so there generally appears to be almost twice as many male governors as female ones on college 
Boards represented by this survey.
For the colleges represented, it was interesting to note that there were only half as many female Chairs of Governors as there were female Principals/Chief Executives.
Almost three quarters of governors were 50 or older and only 12.5% were under 40,  of whom a third were student governors. More than half of respondents have been on the Board for more than 3 years, with 15% having served for over 10 years.
Chairs profiles and responsibilities: differences based on analysis by gender
The number of Chairs of governing bodies participating in the survey was relatively small – just 16 men and 8 women, so the findings are indicative at best. However, within this relatively small cohort, there was a marked contrast between male and female chairs in the length of time they have been in the role – with only 37% of female chairs having been in the role for more than 3 years as compared with 57% of male chairs for a similar period.
Female Chairs met more frequently than their male counterparts with the college’s Chief Executive/Principal – at least once every 3 to 4 weeks, while at least 60% of the male Chairs had such meetings only about once every 4-6 weeks or even less frequently.
Female Chairs also met more frequently than male Chairs with one or more of their individual governors on Corporation business. Their frequency of meetings ranged from ‘once a week’ to ‘about once every 4-6 weeks’, with half holding such meetings ‘about every 3-4 weeks’. In contrast, a third of the male Chairs indicated that they met with other governors about once every 4-6 weeks and a further 14% even less frequently.
Recruitment of governors
Very few respondents (just 2.5%) indicated that they had been selected following a competitive interview although women were more likely to be recruited as a result of a public advertisement than men. Most governors were recruited as a result of being approached by the College’s Corporation Search Committee. Men were more likely than women to be encouraged by an existing governing body member to apply. 
Governing body and Committees
The average number of meetings of the full governing bodies over the past year was 5.46 and about 2/3 lasted between two and three hours.
Men were much more likely to chair and be members of college Audit and/or Finance committees than women, who were more likely to chair and be members of a college’s Search, or possibly Quality Committee.
Only about a quarter of the colleges had committees related to self-assessment, students or employment policy. Self assessment appears to be a very low priority – meeting less than Remuneration.
According to Clerks of governors, committees were almost three times more likely to be chaired by male than female governors.
Attendance patterns
Timings of full governing body and committee meetings may pose particular difficulties for many women – particularly in the under-50 age groups. Over 30% of women (compared with 17% of men) were unable to attend meeting of the full governing body on three or more occasions over the past year. Women were also more likely to be unable to attend college-hosted events to which they were invited than men on a similar ratio.
The majority (over 60%) of both full governors’ meetings and of committees were held in the early evening (5:30 - 7:00pm) on weekdays.
Governor development and training opportunities
Overall, training for governors is well-regarded by both male (81%) and female (77%) respondents. Even so, only 57% of female respondents felt that governor training and development opportunities had been tailored for them either ‘quite’ or ‘very well’.
The most valued types of development included: ‘getting to know you’ sessions with managers, meetings with students and attachment to a specific manager or department.
The highest priority areas for development of governing bodies by both women and men were: community needs, marketing, information and communications technologies and employer training needs.
About 20% of Clerks to governors considered that training/development was either: ‘not very well’ or ‘very poorly’ tailored to meet the needs of the Chairperson and almost a quarter gave similarly poor ratings for tailoring to meet male and female governors as discrete groups.
Perceptions of effectiveness
The main area where male and female governors’ opinions of the Board’s effectiveness diverged was in relation to increasing the levels and range of professional development opportunities for college staff. Only 30% of women felt their governing bodies were effective in this remit, compared with half the male respondents.
Women governors generally tended to be more critical than men when applying negative ratings to aspects such as: assessing its own impact on the college’s welfare; community responsiveness and influencing the college’s overall culture.
While the majority of governor respondents considered their Board was either ‘quite highly’ or ‘extremely’ effective in all aspects, more than 20% thought they were only ‘moderately’ or even less effective at: assessing their own effectiveness, making use of their own experience, and overseeing/directing the management and staff of the college.
More than ¾ of the Clerks considered their governing bodies to be highly effective at: auditing the college’s performance, working collaboratively with the principal, the rest of the SMT and together and at embedding Equality of Opportunity, but far fewer were convinced of their effectiveness in relation to community involvement and increasing professional development opportunities for college staff. 
Clerks’ responses also indicated some discrepancies between their perception of the effectiveness of Boards with female and male Chairs. Boards with female Chairs were rated between 9% and 26% higher on factors ranging from influencing the college’s overall culture to assessing its own impact on the welfare of the college. 
Male Chairs were rated higher on auditing the college’s performance and working collaboratively with the Principal. 

Governing body priorities
The highest priorities for allocation of time by governors tended to be strategic planning and financial auditing, closely followed by capital planning, student performance – then quality assurance and teaching and learning. The assessments of both women and men were generally similar, although a higher proportion of women recorded more substantial time allocations for quality assurance and teaching and learning matters than men did.
Strategic planning at every stage is a key priority for the majority of governors, but particularly at the initial planning, approval and formal review points. 
Clerks consider that there are differences in priority between Boards chaired by men