Emma Knights, Chief Executive at National Governance Association
Two years ago the National Governance Association launched the Everyone-on-Board campaign at our summer conference in 2018 with the endorsement of the then Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds. It aims to improve the diversity of governing boards, with a focus on increasing the participation of people from ethnic minorities and younger people, who are underrepresented in school governance. The percentage of volunteers who identified as Black, Asian or another Minority Ethnicity (BAME) in the annual governance survey 2017 was four per cent and only ten per cent were aged under 40. The six champions of the Everyone on Board campaign were BAME and young (in governance terms).
