An elite group of school governors could ease the problems faced by many volunteers, a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has proposed. It says the highly skilled leaders could be paid to take charge of groups of schools. At present, many unpaid volunteers struggle to cope with the demands of being a governor, particularly in deprived areas. Alan Dyson, who led the study, said: “Governors carry out an important and extremely valuable role. In the light of these findings we need to ask questions about whether we are asking too much of them.”