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Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability

David James Orcid Logo, Steve Garner Orcid Logo, Gary Husband

Educational Management Administration & Leadership, Volume: 51, Issue: 6, Pages: 1422 - 1439

Swansea University Author: Steve Garner Orcid Logo

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Abstract

College governing boards are widely held to be the keystone of institutional strategy and the prime locus of support, challenge and accountability in respect of the actions of the senior Executive. Whilst there are many normative prescriptions about the conditions and arrangements required for effec...

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Published in: Educational Management Administration & Leadership
ISSN: 1741-1432 1741-1440
Published: SAGE Publications 2023
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64031
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spelling v2 64031 2023-08-04 Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability 7344067e0f04bbb3eb1654557e832e0b 0000-0003-1047-6080 Steve Garner Steve Garner true false 2023-08-04 CSSP College governing boards are widely held to be the keystone of institutional strategy and the prime locus of support, challenge and accountability in respect of the actions of the senior Executive. Whilst there are many normative prescriptions about the conditions and arrangements required for effective college governance, relatively little is known about how and to what extent the practices of boards reflect or realise these prescriptions. This paper draws upon a unique research study of eight further education colleges across the four nations of the UK. Following Chia and MacKay and Hendry et al., our ‘strategy as practice’ approach gives primacy to emergence and immanence through board practices. Video and observational data, supplemented by some interview and documentary data are used to develop an understanding of governing practices. Our analysis suggests that current normative prescriptions lack the conceptual sophistication required to support governing as it really happens. We offer a reconceptualisation of both strategy and accountability suggesting that the latter includes lateral, inward- and outward-facing functions that make conflicting demands on governors. We argue that these distinctions are vital in enabling further positive development of governing in the college sector. Journal Article Educational Management Administration &amp; Leadership 51 6 1422 1439 SAGE Publications 1741-1432 1741-1440 Governing, governance, college governing boards, further education, strategy-as-practice, inward-facing and outward-facing accountability 1 11 2023 2023-11-01 10.1177/17411432211053691 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17411432211053691 COLLEGE NANME Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy COLLEGE CODE CSSP Swansea University This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant no. ES/R00322X/1). 2023-12-08T13:28:59.3378011 2023-08-04T09:03:39.3177565 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy David James 0000-0001-7921-6485 1 Steve Garner 0000-0003-1047-6080 2 Gary Husband 3 64031__28512__4d7e8864d3574ae299979cb630a95afc.pdf 64031.VOR.pdf 2023-09-12T16:01:33.5992584 Output 627526 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2021. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability
spellingShingle Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability
Steve Garner
title_short Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability
title_full Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability
title_fullStr Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability
title_full_unstemmed Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability
title_sort Understanding practices of UK college governing: Rethinking strategy and accountability
author_id_str_mv 7344067e0f04bbb3eb1654557e832e0b
author_id_fullname_str_mv 7344067e0f04bbb3eb1654557e832e0b_***_Steve Garner
author Steve Garner
author2 David James
Steve Garner
Gary Husband
format Journal article
container_title Educational Management Administration &amp; Leadership
container_volume 51
container_issue 6
container_start_page 1422
publishDate 2023
institution Swansea University
issn 1741-1432
1741-1440
doi_str_mv 10.1177/17411432211053691
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17411432211053691
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description College governing boards are widely held to be the keystone of institutional strategy and the prime locus of support, challenge and accountability in respect of the actions of the senior Executive. Whilst there are many normative prescriptions about the conditions and arrangements required for effective college governance, relatively little is known about how and to what extent the practices of boards reflect or realise these prescriptions. This paper draws upon a unique research study of eight further education colleges across the four nations of the UK. Following Chia and MacKay and Hendry et al., our ‘strategy as practice’ approach gives primacy to emergence and immanence through board practices. Video and observational data, supplemented by some interview and documentary data are used to develop an understanding of governing practices. Our analysis suggests that current normative prescriptions lack the conceptual sophistication required to support governing as it really happens. We offer a reconceptualisation of both strategy and accountability suggesting that the latter includes lateral, inward- and outward-facing functions that make conflicting demands on governors. We argue that these distinctions are vital in enabling further positive development of governing in the college sector.
published_date 2023-11-01T13:28:59Z
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