Delegates at the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers have called for a clarification of the role of governors, setting ground rules for their involvement in schools and blocking unnecessary interference.

Headteachers are also calling for all governors to receive compulsory training so that they can be given a better understanding of their responsibilities.

NAHT leader David Hart wants governors to receive more training

"Governors must be trained for their role," said Graham Stephens, headteacher of Lambourn Primary School, Berkshire.

"Many of us have to support colleagues whose lives have been made unbearable by the actions of misguided governors, many of them on an ego trip."

In another case of governors overstepping the mark, the conference heard of a governor who took on the uninvited role of timing the arrival of teachers at school.

The Association's Director of Professional Services, Rowie Shaw, said that schools were occasionally faced with the "governor from hell, who turns up at school unannounced and wanders into classrooms" or who wants to influence the school's direction based on "some idea that they have just seen on television."

Colchester head Jenny Crockett tells Radio 5 Live that governors need training to help schools

Backing the calls of his members for clearer guidance on the sometimes tense relationship between headteachers and governing bodies, the Association's General Secretary, David Hart, said that "the Government is moving too slowly towards training governors and defining a proper balance of responsibilities between governors and heads".