Interpersonal relationships within a governing body are important, and for student and staff governors a crucial issue is their own personal credibility with other board members. Where personal credibility is strong the contributions of governors are likely to be influential; however where it is weak views may be dismissed or carry very little weight. The particular problem for student governors is that, unlike most other members of a board, they join a governing body with no personal credibility, whereas independent members - as noted elsewhere - are increasingly recruited to boards on the basis of the special knowledge and skills that they can offer. Staff governors, although perhaps inexperienced on governance matters, usually have credibility by virtue of being employees and also have other attributes, for example their research or professional reputation.
It follows that personal credibility has to be earned by displaying the attributes that boards most value, and for student members there is only a short amount of time to be able to demonstrate these. This issue can be a serious one in many boards in undermining (often unintentionally) the confidence - and therefore the potential contributions - of student members.
One issue that may sometimes - although hopefully rarely - arise is the situation where independent governors appear to patronise or discount contributions made by staff or student governors. Care needs to be taken to avoid this, and clerks and chairs need to keep watch over the conduct of business to ensure that all views are respected. In extreme cases it is not unknown for student members to be berated by independent governors because of personal prejudices about general student behaviour (for example perceived excessive drinking), and chairs need to act firmly to prevent such behaviour.
Powerpoint presentation:
Governors are ALL Governors, Geoff Dawson, Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Governors, Sheffield Hallam University