Education and training services

Tender description

The Government is committed to delivering education excellence everywhere. We want every child to attend a good school to get the best start in life and enable them to reach their full potential regardless of their background. In an increasingly academised, school-led, self-improving system, robust school governance is crucial to complement growing school autonomy and the growth of multi-academy trusts. The Government's vision and expectations for the governance of schools and MATs is set out in the Governance Handbook. The Government has for many years funded support to governing boards to help them recruit the high calibre people they need to deliver effective governance. Going forward, we want to provide stability through multi-year funding through a contract covering four financial years, commencing on 1.9.2016 and ending 31.3.2020, with the possibility of a further 1 year contract extension in 2020-21. The service will: — Help boards recruit the highest calibre people possible. — Support the maximum possible number of governing boards within available resources. — Prioritise the boards most in need of finding skilled people and areas of the country where education standards and capacity to improve are weakest, whilst maintaining support to any school wishing to use the service. — Provide effective screening, matching, and as far as possible training, to maximise the impact of the people introduced onto boards. — Engage more employers to support governance through for example encouraging their staff to be involved in governance. — Raise awareness across the system of how to structure and populate a highly skilled governing board. — Establish a new national channel through which governing boards can recruit an experienced and skilled chair.