2 October 2025
It’s that time again when governance professionals across the FE sector start turning their minds to board reviews. It was in 2021/2022 that the Department for Education (DfE) proclaimed that, as a funding requirement, Colleges must have an external governance review every three years. This was also rolled out to multi-academy trusts.
Now, as ever, the College sector had little say in this and many chose, before the deadline of July 2024, to take the quicker and more light touch approach. This approach was understandable given cost and time pressures.
However, some colleges, chose to approach this, rather than as just “another initiative”, as an opportunity to embrace best practice and external expertise and to ultimately improve governance within their college. One such college was Education Partnership North East (EPNE), led by our new FE Commissioner, Ellen Thinnesen.
EPNE used the opportunity to take a deep dive into their governance arrangements, engaging a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, using online questionnaires, one to one and group meetings, a comprehensive look at their governance framework and meeting observations, to understand their strengths and weaknesses. They also engaged in a full day interactive workshop with the Board and Senior Team to understand the outputs of the report and develop a plan to deliver on recommendations. EPNE were interested in comparing themselves to excellence not only just across FE, but other regulated sectors, with an aim of stretching themselves beyond ‘best practice’ and into ‘next practice’, future proofing their approach to effective governance.
As with many things, such as Ofsted, governance can be approached with verve, positivity and energy rather than angst and trepidation. If the former is chosen, then it can fundamentally lead to financial improvement and integrity, better outcomes and enhanced decision making. We would urge that those who took the natural and understandable, “easier option” in 2023/2024, now think about embracing a more thorough governance review which can add real value to their college.
There are many strategic challenges but also opportunities that Colleges are facing, including unrealistic union demands around pay, Ofsted and curriculum/qualification reform, estate challenges as well as potential growth. Proper oversight, risk appetite, interrogation and support are required from the board, and the executive should welcome this challenge as well as the support. Of course, there has been an increasing focus on governance following recent College fails, such as Weston, Havant & South Downs and Burnley.
Supporting the Board is one of our big strengths at Anderson Quigley – we recognise the importance of effective governance and the role it plays in ensuring colleges thrive under continuous pressure. We partner with Boards to help them recruit board members and Chairs, but we also support Boards to review their governance, both to meet regulatory requirements, and look deeper to deliver strategic insights that strengthen their organisations effectiveness. We provide tailored support and recommendations to enhance the governance of the college, provide legal guidance, skills gaps identification, and succession planning.
Just this year we have worked closely with NCG, Bedford College Group, St Helens College, Chichester College Group and Capital City College Group but we also have the benefit of working across other sectors such as universities, schools, NHS and charities, giving us breadth of insight.
As a Vice Chair of a sizeable multi-academy trust myself, I personally welcome external advice and challenge to ensure that as a board we are doing what we should and doing it to the best of our abilities.
Further Education: Building Effective Governance | AQ
Paul joined AQ in 2024 after ten years at GatenbySanderson and, prior to that, six years at Veredus, all of which has been focused on supporting the education sector. His earlier career was also in education, working in higher education and professional education for ten years. Paul has led on some of the most significant FE/Skills CEO appointments of recent times, including the CEOs of Capital City College, NCG and Warwickshire College Group and the CEOs of the Education and Training Foundation, Student Loans Company, Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education and WorldSkills UK. Paul is a Trustee of Bridge Academy Trust, an eleven-school trust in Essex.
Please do drop him a line if you’d like to explore how we could partner with your Board to support with reviews or recruitment at paul.aristides@andersonquigley.com or connect with him on LinkedIn. You can also find us at the AoC Conference in the main hall, where we’d love to say hello.
