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When can governors see references? (05/05/06)
Question: When are governors allowed to see references when shortlisting or interviewing for a teaching post?

Joan Sallis replies: The law does not give specific guidance on this but, in my experience over a long period, the practice is to open the references only at the end of the interviewing process, and for the head and any governors involved to read them then as a final contribution to their thinking. I say ‘any governors’ because, as you know, although governors are responsible for all appointments (important if anything later goes wrong), heads are not ­required to include them in the process. If any are included I would expect the head to share the references with them at the time they are opened.

I don’t know of any written guidance on this, I’m afraid, but the principle is that a reference should not be allowed to influence those making the decision until they have formed their own unprejudiced opinions of the candidate. Of course a reference may change the outcome, but only in extreme cases, for example where there is only a hair’s breadth between two candidates.

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