TEACHERS are calling on the Government to get rid of school governors who overstep their role.

Simon Jones, spokesman of the National Union of Teachers in East Lancashire says governors should be told clearly the limits of their roles.

And he says they must not carry out management functions such as monitoring teachers' performance through classroom visits.

The national NUT is to make a call to the House of Commons education and employment select committee to conduct an inquiry into the role of governors.

But the Government has indicated that it may extend the role of governors by giving them a far greater say in teachers' pay issues.

Mr Jones says this would create scope for the Government to make "uninformed, biased and discriminatory judgements, and behave in ways which are unacceptable and damaging and which undermine the authority and professional leadership of teachers." He added: "There is already evidence of governors abusing their positions and attempting to move into areas of activity for which they are neither qualified nor authorised.

"The vast majority of governors work tremendously hard to support our schools. They understand and respect the limits of their authority and seek no extension of their role and powers. But inevitably with some 300,000 people involved in Britain there are bound to be some whose behaviour undermines educational provision.

"The biggest area of difficulty is the rogue governors who want to substitute their judgements for the professional judgement of the head teacher, the senior management team and the teachers on the implementation of policy."

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