Special schools are particularly badly hit, with vacancy rates averaging 13 per cent - compared to 11.2 in secondaries and 11.4 per cent in primaries.

Nearly one in five schools in England has three or four vacancies to fill, with more than 1,200 looking for five or more governors. Co-opted governors from local businesses and the community are especially hard to find. Here vacancies average 19 per cent, compared to 13 per cent for LEA appointees, and 10.2 per cent for parent governors.

Governors - who make up the country’s largest volunteer workforce - already complain of being overworked and overloaded with responsibilities. They have a legal duty to raise standards, and are meant to give strategic direction as well as acting as “critical friends” to schools and heads.

But high vacancy levels mean even more work, governor organisations and LEA officers warn.

Jane Phillips, chair of the National Association of Governors and Managers, said: “Like teaching, governorship has become unattractive. There are issues in common, particularly workload and inappropriate responsibilities. Teacher workload is being addressed. We would want the same for governors.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Skills said ministers were “offering targeted support” in inner city areas through the School Governors’ One-Stop Shop, which recruits business governors. It has also run national advertising campaigns.

Karen Thornton See next week’s governors pages for more details of the vacancy survey