Early years practitioners have warned the Government that its plans to enhance the role of classroom assistants must not be a cheap way of alleviating teacher shortages and should be accompanied by a proper salary and career structure.
Last week education and skills secretary Estelle Morris called for a greater role for teaching assistants so that teachers can spend more time planning lessons. She said she wanted to see in Britain's classrooms 'a mix of staff fulfilling complementary roles - qualified teachers alongside trained classroom assistants, learning mentors and technicians'.
Her comments on the extended role for teaching assistants follow from a study of teacher workload by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the Department for Education and Skills earlier this year.
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