At Newark Orchard School, the 20 helpers outnumber full-time teachers by nearly two to one: personal care assistants, on the lowest rung of the ladder, aspire to become junior and then senior teaching assistants.

Linda McCarthy, 48, takes overall charge of the team, mixing management responsibilities with hands-on work in the classroom. “It is very important to me that I am still a practitioner, otherwise I would have no credibility with the rest of the team,” she said.

Like all assistants, she has to perform a delicate balancing act in the classrooms: helping teachers to carry out their duties without challenging their status.

The unions have compared the extension of their role with “allowing the theatre sister to take over the brain surgery” in an operating room.

Ms McCarthy said: “The assistants know that they are not teachers, and they are not trying to be. They are professionals in their own right, but in a different and distinct way.”

The approach adopted by Newark, which has 95 special needs pupils aged between three and 19, is quoted glowingly in the consultation framework published yesterday.

Describing it as an exemplar, it praises the fact that “teaching assistants have high-level skills with which they support pupils’ learning and sometimes lead lessons if they have relevant skills”.

The unions are highly sensitive about the latter point, but Ms McCarthy says that all help in the classroom, such as guiding small groups in reading practice, is subject to lesson plans drawn up by teachers.

A typical working day for Ms McCarthy starts at 8am at the school, as she checks her post and messages and discusses the placement of staff with heads of departments. After a morning teaching, with an hour for lunch, the rest of the day is spent monitoring or training her staff, and holding information-sharing meetings with staff in other schools in the area. Her day ends at about 6.30pm. More junior assistants spend their time putting up displays, watering plants or tidying cupboards.

Sharon Jeffries, the head teacher, said that, contrary to union fears, many assistants were happy to have limited responsibilities. Of the 20 staff on her books, only two are men, reflecting the fact that the job suits women who want to return to work part-time after having children.

“This is about increasing opportunities for children, not challenging anyone’s profession,” she said.

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