Abstract

Boards of trustees govern our schools, colleges, child care centers and universities. Their governance responsibilities come with pressures of intense scrutiny, high accountabilities, liabilities for financial solvency, dramatic variations in funding and changing knowledge requirements. Responsibility for ensuring institutional wellbeing and longevity rests primarily with trustees. Yet, most trustees have had no formal governance training, and criticisms of available training suggest that it does not help trustees to develop the deep knowledge necessary to govern effectively. This paper treats board governance as a social practice, highlights the situated nature of board governance where learning and social participation are mutually dependent on each other, and discusses board development from the perspective of boards as informal communities of practice.