Self-evaluation for governing boards

The DfE’s Governance Handbook advises boards to evaluate themselves on a routine basis and the Academy Trust Handbook also recommends a wide programme of self assessment and improvement.

Training & development

05/04/2023

NGA recommends that governing boards self-evaluate annually to help them:

deliver their core functions in an effective, ethical and accountable way
assure compliance
continuously improve so achieving better outcomes for pupils

NGA’s online board self-evaluation

The online board self-evaluation uses NGA’s question sets which cover key areas of practice, including board culture and practice, structure, core functions and impact.

The self-evaluation is completed by all board members, senior executive leaders, and the governance professional and includes:

guidance on how to set up and run the self-evaluation
guidance about how to analyse your evaluation reports
a template governance action plan
an optional mentor session with an NGA governance consultant

The self-evaluation question sets include:

20 questions for single school governing boards
21 questions for multi academy trust boards
16 questions for academy committees (local governing bodies)

Place your order

£ 260

NGA Gold and MAT members

NGA will set up the review after the payment has been made.

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Standard- and non-members

£ 299

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Whole MAT self-evaluation package

MATs can purchase a whole MAT self-evaluation package by adding the following question sets to their board self-evaluation order:

An additional cost of £110
An additional cost of: £795 for up to 10 LGBs £1,100 for 11-20 LGBs £1,750 for 21-30 LGBs £2,300 for 31 or more LGBs
NGA will set up the self-evaluation after the payment has been made.

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“This exercise has given me a baseline on which to build when I take the chair.”
“The report is the first step to developing a detailed governance action plan in an effort to get ALL governors actively engaged.”