As a result, the National Governors' Council is calling on schools and local education authorities to adopt more innovative recruitment methods to address the problem.

Eye-catching leaflets are part of the new drive to attract governors

Pat Petch, chairwoman of the council, said: "Although the situation often changes from region to region, it's clearly becoming more and more difficult to recruit governors.

"A lot of people are wary of going to a meeting about becoming a governor as they feel they will be under some form of obligation to make a commitment, so there is a great need for new ideas about how we can attract potential governors."

As a result of education reforms introduced during the 1980s, governors have extensive powers in areas such as deciding how to spend multi-million pound school budgets and the hiring and firing of teachers.

"The reluctance we encounter is at least in part due to the changing nature of the job and the increased level of responsibility," said Ms Petch.

John Ashton, chairman of Bristol's education committee: "We're just looking for people with a bit of common sense"

The shortage of volunteers is apparent in every category of school governor, from parent governors to representatives of local business - known as "co-opted" members of the governing body.

Bristol is one area where a new approach to recruitment appears to have paid dividends.

The number of vacant governor posts in the city fell from 500 to 300 over the past year as a result of an initiative which saw clothing shops agree to put a leaflet explaining the role of a governor in the pockets of the school uniforms they had in stock.

John Ashton: "You don't have to be an expert in education"

A spokeswoman for the council's education department said this had reduced the number of parent-governor vacancies in many of the city's 182 schools. Education officials are now targeting potential co-opted governors; nearly half the vacant posts in the city are in this category.

The latest attempt to attract volunteers has been given the title of "shopping for governors". It involves council staff handing out leaflets to shoppers outside a busy Bristol supermarket, assisted by schoolchildren performing an eyecatching dance routine.