Governance professionals working in the education sector face an ever-growing workload. Key pressure points include:
Writing accurate minutes from complex conversations can be a huge drain on time, requiring hours of work to type up notes and revisit papers to create accurate minutes.
The sheer volume of meetings, reports, and compliance tasks can make it difficult to keep on top of information. Retrieving past decisions or key themes can take time and require significant input.
For many governance teams, stretched resources can mean significant time is lost to admin rather than spent on more impactful activities such as recruitment, trustee development or improving oversight and board effectiveness.
Effective communication can be challenging and time consuming but is critical to the success of engaging and retaining governance volunteers.
Introducing AI into Governance
AI is proving to be a game-changer. For Pippa at WeST it has:
Enabled smarter reporting – using tools like Co-pilot to summarise WeST CC member minutes, actions and visit reports for trustees, highlighting key themes while preserving accuracy.
Made documents more useful – governance teams can now search instantly for topics across documents, removing the need to wade through lengthy reports.
Transformed minute-taking – extracting the main points and producing first drafts in minutes rather than hours.
Supported better communication – from drafting emails to creating impact reports, AI helps refine tone, cut down wordiness, and improve confidence in written outputs.
Helped with training - summarising specific MAT documents and sector statutory guidance to create innovative training podcasts and supportive documents.
The impact
The benefits Pippa has seen include:
Significant time savings – minutes, summaries, and reports that once took hours now take a fraction of the time.
Greater confidence – governance colleagues feel supported, not stretched, and able to deliver information that is clearer, more professional, and designed to meet the specific needs of governance reporting to support both local and Trustee boards.
Shifting focus to strategy – more time for the strategic side of governance, supporting boards to fulfil their statutory duties and to develop an effective approach to governance across all levels of governance in the trust.
Wider organisational uptake – beyond governance, AI tools are now being used by the executive leadership team to capture actions and deliver on specific projects.
As Pippa puts it: “AI is friendly and helpful. It makes you faster and more confident. My advice to other governance professionals is simple: crack on and try it.”
Looking ahead
There are still important questions to address, and governance teams will need a process of regular review to provide robust oversight of AI tools — from data management and FOI requirements to decisions on archiving and information control.
What is clear, however, is that AI is reshaping the governance landscape. The sector is beginning to harness these tools responsibly, ensuring governance professionals are equipped not only to meet the demands of today but also to anticipate what will be needed going forward.
Scriba is hugely grateful to Pippa and to the governance professionals across the sector whose insight and feedback have been invaluable in shaping the platform. By working in partnership our aim is to build tools that truly reflect the realities of governance and make meetings more effective for everyone.