Chair of Governors: Role, Responsibilities and How the Chair Is Elected
The chair of governors leads the governing board, supports effective meetings and helps governors hold school leaders to account. The chair works with the headteacher and governance professional while respecting collective decisions. In England, election, eligibility and urgent-action rules depend on whether the school is maintained or part of an academy trust.
What the chair does
This guide concerns England. “Chair of governors” commonly describes a maintained-school governing-body chair or an academy local-committee chair. A trust-board chair leads the academy trust’s board of trustees. These roles share leadership skills, but their powers and appointment arrangements differ.
Section 4.5 of the maintained schools governance guide describes the chair’s leadership, agenda-setting and support for effective governance. Section 4.4.1 of the academy trust governance guide describes the corresponding trust-board role. In both settings, the chair creates conditions for informed discussion and constructive challenge.
A chair prepares with the headteacher or senior executive and governance professional, checks that important business reaches the agenda and makes space for different views. The board needs to understand the decision before it votes: the purpose, options, relevant evidence, risks and implications. A chair can ask for a clearer paper without taking over the leader’s operational work.
The relationship with the headteacher combines support and accountability. Section 3.1 of the maintained guide discusses this relationship. Regular conversations can identify emerging matters and support the headteacher, while preserving the full board’s access to information and its responsibility to scrutinise performance. Private discussions should not become an alternative board that settles decisions before the meeting.
The governance professional provides independent procedural advice, supports agendas and minutes and helps the board work within its rules. Agree how the chair and clerk will prepare meetings, track actions and deal with questions about eligibility, interests or delegation. Respecting that advice protects the board’s decisions and makes meetings easier for everyone to contribute to.
Responsibilities table
| Area | Chair’s practical contribution | Boundary and source |
|---|---|---|
| Meetings | Agree focused agendas, facilitate debate and confirm decisions and actions | Collective board decisions; maintained guide §4.5 and trust guide §4.4.1 |
| Headteacher relationship | Provide support and constructive challenge; share significant matters appropriately | Operational leadership stays with school leaders; maintained guide §3.1 |
| Performance management | Ensure the authorised arrangements work and evidence is considered | Maintained guide §3.2 and §4.5; responsibilities may sit with a panel or committee |
| Urgent action | Establish the applicable authority and record any decision | Maintained regulation 8; academy articles and lawful delegation |
| Complaints | Ensure the published procedure and impartial arrangements are followed | Maintained guide §7.12 and academy guide §7.15; avoid prejudging a later panel |
| Safeguarding oversight | Keep assurance, policy review and significant governance actions on the agenda | Maintained guide §7.8 and academy guide §7.10; operational safeguarding remains with the appropriate leaders |
The table is a practical role summary. It does not assign every task personally to the chair. Governing bodies and trusts should use their own terms of reference, scheme of delegation and current policies to identify who prepares, who recommends and who decides.
For meeting preparation, use the board meeting preparation checklist. A chair should check that papers support decisions, rather than merely arrive before the meeting. Where an item is for information, make that clear so governors can give enough time to matters requiring approval or challenge.
Electing the chair and vice-chair in a maintained school
Regulation 7 of the 2013 governance regulations requires the governing body to elect a chair and vice-chair from among its members, subject to the statutory intervention provision. A governor employed at the school as a teacher or any other member of staff is not eligible for either role.
Before the election, the governing body determines the date on which the chair’s and vice-chair’s terms end. This is the chair-role term, which is distinct from the person’s term as a governor. There is no universal four-year chair term in regulation 7. The board should agree and record the end date before electing the office-holder.
The regulation covers resignation in writing to the clerk, circumstances in which office ends and filling a vacancy at the next meeting. The vice-chair acts when the chair is absent or the chair’s office is vacant. Ask the governance professional to explain the board’s election procedure, including management of candidates’ interests and the meeting record.
Regulation 9 addresses removal. The governing body may remove the chair or vice-chair by resolution, with an exception for a Secretary of State-nominated chair. The matter must be an agenda item. The proposer gives reasons, and the affected person has an opportunity to respond before withdrawing. Follow the regulation and appropriate advice rather than treating removal as an informal confidence poll.
The School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2012 separately govern board constitution and categories of governor. Eligibility to join the governing body and eligibility to chair it are related checks, but they are not the same question.
Academy trust and local-committee arrangements
Academy trusts work under their own adopted articles of association. The Department’s mainstream model articles, articles 82–92, provide for election of a chair and vice-chair each school year from among trustees, exclude trust employees from those offices and set out vacancy and removal arrangements.
Under that model, removal involves an agenda item, a resolution confirmed at a further meeting held at least 14 days later, and an opportunity for the affected person to respond. Those are model provisions: use the trust’s actual articles to establish the applicable process, especially for trusts with different or amended articles. Do not import the maintained-school removal procedure into a trust.
The current academy guide, sections 4.4.2–4.4.3, describes annual chair and vice-chair election. A trustee’s underlying office and the annual chair election are distinct. Where a trust advertises for a new chair, the person also needs a valid route onto the trustee board under the articles.
A MAT local-committee chair works within delegated responsibilities. Sections 4.3.5–4.3.6 of the academy guide describe local committees and schemes of delegation. The local committee is not a separate trust board. Appointment, election, tenure and removal depend on the trust’s governance arrangements; there is no automatic local application of maintained regulation 7 or model article 82.
Use the trust board versus local governing body responsibilities guide to clarify what the trust retains, what the committee monitors and where recommendations go. A local chair should know which matters can be decided locally and which must be escalated.
Chair’s action and urgent decisions
Regulation 8 gives a maintained-school chair a limited urgency power. It applies where the chair considers delay would likely be seriously detrimental to the interests of the school, a pupil or their parent, or a person working at the school. Delay means waiting until the earliest reasonably practicable meeting of the governing body or relevant committee.
This is not a routine way to approve an inconvenient agenda item. Establish why the matter cannot wait, what detriment is anticipated and why an appropriate meeting cannot be held soon enough. The vice-chair can act in the circumstances specified by paragraph 4 where the chair cannot act before that detriment occurs.
The maintained guide, section 4.5.1, says decisions should be reported in writing as soon as possible and recorded in minutes. Keep a clear record of the matter, urgency, authority, decision and notification. Distinguish a decision already taken under a lawful power from a proposal awaiting collective approval.
For academy trusts, section 4.4.1 says the chair does not act alone unless approved to do so by the board and where delegation to an individual is permitted. Use the actual articles and delegation arrangements. A trust or local chair cannot acquire the maintained regulation 8 power merely by using the phrase “chair’s action”.
First 90 days for a new chair
The following is a practical planning sequence, not a statutory deadline. Adapt it to the board’s calendar, school circumstances and any immediate safeguarding or financial matters.
During the first month, read the governing documents, current strategy, improvement priorities, delegation arrangements and recent minutes. Meet the headteacher or relevant executive and governance professional. Understand the board’s membership, vacancies, interests, committee structure and upcoming decisions. Identify urgent matters without trying to redesign the whole governance system immediately.
During the second month, observe how assurance reaches the board. Check whether papers explain performance and risk, whether governors can ask informed questions and whether actions are followed up. Review your own training needs and those of the board. Learn how complaints, safeguarding and personnel matters are routed so that your early involvement does not compromise a later impartial role.
By the third month, agree a few improvements with the board. These might concern agenda priorities, paper quality, induction or action tracking. Define an owner and review point for each. Ask governors and the headteacher what is working in the chairing relationship and where clarification would help.
A concise checklist is useful:
- Confirm election or appointment and the chair-role end date.
- Read the governing documents and scheme of delegation.
- Agree preparation routines with the leader and governance professional.
- Review strategy, school improvement priorities and significant risks.
- Understand safeguarding assurance and complaints boundaries.
- Check board skills, vacancies, induction and training needs.
- Review decisions, minutes and outstanding actions.
- Agree proportionate improvements and a follow-up date.
Succession planning
Sections 4.5.2 of the maintained guide and 4.4.2 of the academy guide emphasise succession planning. Treat it as developing capacity before the chair leaves. A prepared vice-chair, effective committee leadership and opportunities for governors to lead discussions help the board remain resilient.
Discuss the role’s time commitment and support openly. Invite governors to develop chairing skills, share appropriate preparation work and take relevant training. A handover should include the meeting calendar, strategic priorities and outstanding governance actions, while protecting confidential personnel and complaint information.
Keep appointment and election dates visible so succession is planned alongside the board’s actual rules. Review the arrangement periodically, rather than assuming the current chair will continue indefinitely. The aim is continuity of effective collective leadership, not dependence on one individual’s memory or availability.
Frequently asked questions
What are the responsibilities of a chair of governors?
The chair leads the board, supports effective meetings and constructive challenge, works with the headteacher and governance professional, and helps the board fulfil its responsibilities. The role operates within collective authority and applicable delegation arrangements.
How is the chair of governors elected?
A maintained governing body elects its chair and vice-chair from its members under regulation 7. Academy trust elections follow the trust’s articles; the current DfE guide describes election each school year. MAT local-committee arrangements depend on the trust’s rules.
Can a staff member be chair of governors?
In a maintained school, a governor employed at the school is ineligible to be chair or vice-chair under regulation 7(3). The mainstream academy model articles exclude trust employees from chair and vice-chair roles. Check local-committee arrangements separately.
How long is a chair of governors' term?
In a maintained school, the board determines the chair-role end date before election under regulation 7(2). Academy trust chair elections follow the articles, with annual election described in the current guide. A chair-role term is distinct from a governor or trustee term.
What is chair's action?
For maintained schools, regulation 8 permits limited urgent action where waiting for the earliest practicable meeting would likely be seriously detrimental to specified interests. Academy chairs rely on lawful authority under their articles and delegation arrangements, rather than that maintained-school power.