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. 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”. 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.”. The parliamentary watchdog, who was in effect sacked from her post for being “too rigorous”, is being considered as the Northern Ireland Assembly’s new sleaze watchdog.

Ms Filkin’s main rival for the job would be Tom Frawley, the Northern Ireland Assembly Ombudsman, who is acting in the role until an official appointment is made.Friends of Ms Filkin have indicated that she would be interested in taking up a fresh enforcement role after her contract ends in February.Backbench MPs rallied to her defence in September after she was snubbed by the House of Commons authorities and told to reapply for her own job. Senior Government figures were worried that she enforced the rules on MPs’ behaviour too strictly, causing severe discomfort to ministers including Keith Vaz and Geoffrey Robinson. She was also the victim of a whispering campaign among government ministers, which some MPs have described as “vindictive”.The Standards commissioner’s sleaze-busting role will be downgraded in Westminster next year with Ms Filkin’s successor working fewer hours and earning a lower salary She had been earning £76,000 a year.. Jack McConnell, Scotland’s Education Minister, announced his intention to stand for leadership of the country’s Labour Party, a position that would ultimately lead to him becoming First Minister.