The remodelling of education means that teachers should now be regarded as the "manager of the classroom", a teaching union chief says today.

In an ePolitix interview, the Professional Association of Teachers general secretary, Jean Gemmell, argues that with a greater role in schools for classroom assistants and nursery nurses, teachers are increasingly managing the work of others.

"The work in schools needs to be tackled by a whole team of people, not just teachers," she told this website.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gerald Imison, deputy general secretary of the ATL, told ePolitix.com: "It is true that individual teachers are having to ensure that adults assisting in the classroom in whatever capacity are being used to maximum advantage and this will take up some of their time.

"This makes it even more imperative that the government takes urgent action to reduce a teachers overall workload. Ironically, the use of these supporting adults is an important part of the solution as well as adding to the problem and one of the challenges for our partners is squaring this circle.

"Education is a team activity and the roles of all the partners need to be clearly defined, it is only the teachers that have the skills and training to deliver the learning and the use of adults cannot be allowed to replace the teachers role in the delivery of learning.

"Most classroom assistants do not want to be seen as a cheap alternative in solving the teacher recruitment difficulties. This has to be constantly viewed as a separate issue from that of teacher workload."

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

John Bangs, head of education of the NUT, told ePolitix.com: "Jean Gemell is a head teacher who tells it like it is. She always makes a positive contribution as head of the PAT.

"Although we agree with much of what she says, we would emphasise the need to change teachers contracts in order to protect them from excessive workload.

"We would also argue that in terms of being a manager of the classroom team, it is important that teachers do not get stuck with the planning and the paperwork, while the assistants get on with the actual teaching."