The accountability of school governing bodies

The notion of accountability has been central to the reforms which have been introduced in education since the Education Reform Act of 1988. As a case in point, key responsibilities have been devolved from local education authorities to school governing bodies. While these bodies are now accountable for many aspects of education, it is not clear how they work in practice. The aim of this paper is to identify the nature of accountability of school governing bodies. The research it reports on involved interviews with a range of governors to determine both how they perceive themselves to be accountable and how such accountability operates in reality. From all this conclusions are drawn on the nature and effectiveness of governing body accountability