A report describing a research project into the role of the 'clerk to the corporation' of Further Education institutions, particularly in how it relates to ensuring high quality college governance.
The project focussed primarily on gaining new insights into the role of the clerk within a college through the 'FE clerk community', and to deliver professional learning to the community by engaging clerks in the research process. This was achieved through policy, regulatory, and guidance documentation analysis, literature reviews, and engaging a wide array of clerks across England through regional meetings and a national survey.
The research found that a slim majority of clerks held a degree or equivalent professional qualification in a relevant subject. Almost half of the clerks surveyed had held their post for over 6 years. The participating clerks were experienced and well qualified - however, the authors argued that there was still scope for improving clerk qualification levels through CPD. The relevance of the work of the clerk to good governance was found to warrant the ambition of all clerks to hold appropriate qualifications and to be fully supported. Data indicated that clerks made a considerable contribution to high quality governance of FE colleges and that there was also scope for raising the role's status to ensure adequate resources are allocated to clerks in the future. Data was gathered through interviews and surveys, and document analysis.