GOVERNMENT plans to enlist a highly-trained army of classroom assistants to help reduce teachers' workloads could transform the way schools are run.

The sweeping changes, which are part of an 18-month government review, will include a formal career structure for classroom assistants who will be encouraged to eventually progress to qualified teacher status.

The new plans, the biggest shake-up in teaching practice for 40 years, could see a new breed of "higher-level assistants" who could take lessons under supervision and cover for absent colleagues.

In primary schools, support staff could take music or drama, which would free teachers to mark and prepare lessons.

Plans to relieve teachers' workloads will use part of the extra £15 billion the Government has set aside for education and will provide an extra 50,000 more support staff by 2006.

While the majority of headteachers welcome the chance to receive any extra help in the classroom, teaching unions fear that the increase in assistants is an easy way to address the teaching shortage and could lead to a lowering of standards.

Martin Fisher, who is the regional National Union of Teachers officer based in Bolton, said: "We have always believed that there should be a properly funded system for teaching assistants to provide support with reasonable pay and training.

"But we must remember that the assistants are there to assist -- they are not teachers.

"The union is concerned about government statements regarding classroom assistants covering classes and taking charge while teachers do something else.

"I am sure parents of children in Bolton want them to be taught by teachers and not assistants.

"Is this an easy way to address the teaching shortage? For many years the NUT campaigned for all teachers to be graduates and we don't want to take a step back from that." Many Bolton primary schools have been reaping the benefits of employing a high ratio of classroom assistants for years.

Glenys Evans, headteacher of Claypool Primary School, Horwich, was an early advocate of classroom assistants four years ago after being impressed by the impact the first two recruits had on her pupils and the strong level of support they offered to her staff.

When her staff are given "non-contact" time with the pupils they are expected to carry out managerial tasks and to help out with monitoring teaching practice in other classes.

However, Mrs Evans would love to give them time off from the classroom for marking and preparation tasks.

She said: "Having support staff inside and outside the classroom is an excellent idea.

"I welcome the plans wholeheartedly.

"The majority of teachers work extremely hard and often miss out on time with their families because they are still marking and preparing work in the evenings, holidays and at the weekends.

"Improving the pay and training structure is vital if we are to attract the right sort of person into becoming a classroom assistant."

At Wolfenden Primary School, Halliwell, full-time classroom assistants working with every class has been a way of life for two-and-a-half years.

Headteacher Graham Bedford said: "We treat our classroom assistants with as much respect as we do the teachers.

"They are professional partners for the teachers who make a big difference in the numeracy and literacy sessions.

"Other schools will find that having more assistants is useful, but I would question whether it creates more free time for the teaching staff."

The headteacher of Oxford Grove Primary School, Paul Kelly, said: "We'd welcome more trained staff at the school, although I have reservations about them standing in for teachers.

"But better qualified, better paid assistants can only be a good thing for all schools."

Naomi Richardson, headteacher of Eatock Primary School, Daisy Hill, said: "Our classroom assistants are worth their weight in gold, but they are assistants and not teachers.

"Teaching is a highly trained profession. If classroom assistants wanted to be teachers then they would have become teachers in the first place."

Catherine Connell, from Little Lever, joined The Deane School 10 months ago as a teaching assistant and is thrilled that the Government plans to make her job more high profile with an improved pay structure.

The 27-year-old, who has nursery nurse and youth work qualifications, said: "Different local education authorities pay very different wages. It would be good if there was a clearer pay structure nationally.

"I would definitely like to take more responsibility in the classroom.

"At the moment I often act as an extra pair of eyes for the teacher, but it would be nice to be recognised as a professional and given more opportunity to work on my own initiative."