The largest teaching union has warned against schools being used as surrogate social services after Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, called on teachers to do more to prevent child abuse in the home.

Mr Balls made the call for schools to do more to spot abuse and raise the alarm after further details of the events leading to the death of Baby P were made public.

But Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers told The Times that child protection should chiefly be the job of specialist services - not teachers.

"The vital work that needs to be done to ensure the safety and well being of young people potentially in danger is a role for the professional services that are trained and qualified to give the help that is necessary," Ms Blower said. "The pastoral role that teachers play in young peoples lives makes them an important part of this chain.”

Mr Balls said teachers should be key players in the protection of at-risk youngsters by spotting early warning signs and acting before the problems escalate into full-scale abuse.

He advocated the expansion of boards consisting of schools, social workers and doctors to monitor the safety of children in the home.

“Schools are often the most important institution in a community. It’s a place where parents really trust the professionals. It’s a place where teachers often spot problems early in a child behaving strangely,” he said.

The call puts added pressure on teachers and heads to monitor children’s wellbeing, not only while they are at school but also at home. Schools are already being used as a central plank in the Government's 'Prevent' strategy to get upstream of terrorism by tackling extremist views held by pupils.

Mr Balls said: “We want teachers to work with us to make sure when we spot a problem, let’s get in early because if you wait until the young person gets really down the wrong track, if it’s a mental health problem, they end up getting involved in crime.

“In the case of the safety issues, the teacher spotting a problem when the child’s behaviour is not right, we need to make sure that they’re ringing the alarm bell, getting in the social workers, then making sure the action is taken from the child’s point of view,” he told GMTV.

“Across the country we’ve got to do better to make sure we get the police, the GPs, the schools, with social workers to really focus on making sure every child is safe and if those early signs of problems are starting to arise that we act and we see things from the child’s point of view.

“I think too often in this case, and in other cases, what is happening is people are thinking is the mother ok and keep the family together.

“The first priority has got to be the child and that they’re safe and I think we all feel in the case of Haringey that wasn’t what happened and that is what’s wrong.”

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