We're short of 25,000 teachers, admits Morris

Education

The Government proposed radical solutions to the staffing crisis in schools after revealing the problem was far worse than previously thought and admitting that classrooms were short of 25,000 permanent teachers.

Ministers said in April that teacher vacancies in nursery, primary and secondary schools reached 4,980 in January 2001. Yesterday, Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, said the number of posts either vacant or filled by supply teachers totalled 25,000. She warned the figure would rise to 40,000 by 2006, depriving schools of one in 10 teachers.

To make up for the shortfall, Ms Morris suggested classroom assistants could for the first time be asked to cover for qualified teachers who are off sick or on training courses.

Assistants could also supervise classes doing work set by a teacher, invigilate tests and take on teachers' administrative duties such as photocopying and collecting dinner money, she suggested.

The moves, immediately condemned by teaching unions, coincided with publication of a government-commissioned report by consultant Pricewater-houseCoopers, which recom- mended teachers be given guaranteed time off to prepare lessons. It also suggested classroom assistants be given a wider role. The Government had pledged to recruit an extra 10,000 teachers and 20,000 teaching assistants during its second term.

Ms Morris, in a speech to the Social Market Foundation in London, denied the Government was trying to head off a recruitment crisis by replacing teachers with assistants. She suggested a "remodelling" of the teaching profession so teachers become more like hospital consultants rather than junior doctors, overseeing a team of adults with other skills.

Schools should make more use of teachers from other further education colleges and universities as well as business people, Ms Morris said. She also signalled some pupils may be taught in larger classes, saying they could be "led by a single teacher, supported by assistants as appropriate".

Ms Morris described her plans for assistants to stand in for absent teachers and take some lessons without being supervised by a teacher as "risky". Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: "It means more childminding and less education."

David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "This is a blatantly cynical attempt by the Government to solve the teacher recruitment crisis by using classroom assistants as teachers. The use of classroom assistants, as urged by the Secretary of State, would do nothing to raise standards and undermines the role played by high-quality teachers."

But John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, gave the move cautious support. He said: "There are many roles that can be filled effectively by support staff, to enable teachers to concentrate on teaching.

"But the support staff must not been seen as a way of plugging teacher shortage gaps. Schools in the future will use support staff in many ways and teaching will become a more attractive job if teachers are better supported than they are at present."