Teachers will become "mind shapers not child minders", under sweeping reforms of the teaching profession announced yesterday by the education secretary.

Some 50,000 new classroom assistants will be deployed by 2006 to work as assistant teachers, "behaviour managers" and administrative assistants in order to ease teachers' workload.

Estelle Morris said the plans will allow state schools to offer pupils the "individualised learning" that attracted parents to enrol children in the private sector.

She said: "The model of the profession as it is at the moment has delivered us all it can. If we want to make that next big leap we have got to look at how we are teaching."

Doug McAvoy, the general secretary of the NUT, said: "The government is asking the theatre sister to take over brain surgery. Parents will not accept such a proposal."