Welcome to your Governance Development Programme – free training funded by the Department for Education (DfE) to support you in being an effective college governor.
Select from over 30 short courses covering all the key topics you need to master as a governor to be able to support and challenge your organisation. Developed in collaboration with the sector, each course is standalone, and you can dip in and out at a time to suit you, tracking your progress on your personal learning dashboard.
How is the programme structured?
Courses are mostly online and mapped to three categories – core, proficient and highly effective – to reflect different levels of FE governance experience. You can select from all three categories to suit your interests and background.
You are in total control of your learning with the programme; each opportunity is designed to be standalone, so it’s up to you where to start and what to explore next.
As a governance professional, this programme of self-directed study also provides you with an ideal source of free, reputable training which you can recommend to your governors.
Example programme courses
Newly appointed as a governor?
Try ‘Understanding your role and the role of the board’.
From a business background?
Try ‘Understanding your curriculum offer and student profile’.
Expecting an Ofsted inspection soon?
Try ‘Board involvement at inspection’.
Previous attendee feedback
Rachel Kirk, East Coast College
“You can sit down and do half an hour on a course then come back a bit later. I like being able to dip in and out of them.
This is the first time I’ve come across governance training for the sector, and I think it’s really good.”
Rachel Kirk, Governor, East Coast College
Patrick O'Neill, South & City College Birmingham
“The training was tremendous… everything about the content was good.
Governors are expected to know more and more now, so it’s important to have expert input.”
Patrick O'Neill, Governor, South & City College Birmingham
Parveen Ghulam, South & City College
“We wanted high quality, external CPD where [our governors] could study independently and just dip in and out as and when they pleased… finding the ETF Governance Development Programme was very important.”
Parveen Ghulam, Head of Corporate Governance and Legal Services, South & City College Birmingham
Need to know more?
Programme brochure
Programme overview