But immediately it qualifies the simplicity of that formulation:

While this short statement of the respective roles of Head and governors is broadly true, in practice the relationship between the two can be a complex one...The line between management and governance cannot, however, be rigidly defined, and it will vary from one school to another and from time to time.

Flexibility is one thing, confusion another. While it is undoubtedly a good thing for governors and a head to work closely together, in the end their relationship crucially depends upon a clear separation of responsibilities. For how could a governing body dismiss a head for underperformance if they themselves have been active in management and administration, as well as the setting of policies and objectives? 

It is against this backdrop of financial challenge, legislative threat and changing practice that the legal liabilities of governors, long regarded for all practical purposes as pretty notional, suddenly seem alarming. Governors will put themselves at risk of personal liability if they act imprudently, and it is also the case that in an unincorporated school, the governors are jointly and severally liable — that is to say, the actions of an individual governor can bind the other governors. 

Aside from the cuts and the public spending review, almost the first policy of the Coalition government set to become a reality is the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove's "free" schools. Small groups of parents, dissatisfied by the quality of state provision, are getting together to create their own schools. These schools will be state-funded but — the crucial point — free from local authority control. Each of these schools will need premises, staff and — less visible but nevertheless important — a board of governors. Over the next few months it seems likely that many people will become school governors for the first time. It is quite possible that some schools will have governing bodies made up entirely of novices. As they take their seats round the table at their inaugural meeting, these new governors may wish to look closely at those with whom they are embarking on the adventure of governing a school.