The Ministerial Working Group on School Governance has published its review of the current system since 1997, and concludes that governors have done good work to support school improvement.

Key findings of the report, The 21st century school: Implications and challenges for governing bodies, include:

• The majority of governing bodies do a good job.
• Governing bodies need to be clear about their purpose and follow a
  defined set of principles for good governance of schools.
• There needs to be more clarity concerning the strategic management
  role of the governing body and the day to day management role of head
  teachers to ensure that neither party crosses over into each other's role.
• The principle of stakeholder representation on governing bodies is
  essential but needs to be balanced against a requirement that all
  governing bodies have the necessary skills to carry out their tasks.
• Improvements to the training for chairs, new governors
  and clerks need are required.
  

The full report is available from DCSF's Online Publications for Schools website.