Teaching assistant numbers are booming, with an extra 25,000 in schools since 1999. Primary schools alone have witnessed a 48 per cent increase in the past five years, while the number of teachers rose by only 1 per cent in the same time - a sizeable shift in classroom dynamics.

And the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, now says she is determined to give this army of assistants expanded rights to supervise lessons, so “unshackling” teachers to concentrate on planning and marking.

Many teachers, particularly those new to the profession, don’t understand how best to use these extra adults. Some have only a sketchy idea of how to begin building support into the structure of their lessons.

Teaching assistant is a wide-ranging term that can describe those who have a general role as classroom helper as well as others with a specific responsibility for one child. They can support individual pupils with special needs, help small groups during activities or address the whole class to free the teacher. Or they can get out the paintpots - and wash them up afterwards.

“It makes my blood boil,” says Jane, a primary school assistant in the South-west. “But that’s still the way many teachers see us. They think of the TA as someone doing menial tasks in the classroom.

“I’ve worked hard to gain qualifications,” she adds, citing her status as a specialist teaching assistant, as well as her extra training in dealing with pupils with language and learning difficulties. “But then you get teachers like the one who screamed at me for not getting the wall mounts straight. ‘You’re supposed to be a TA,’ she yelled. ‘That’s the one thing you’re supposed to be able to do.’ “I’m used to working down the hierarchy. I’ve worked in what you would call lowly positions in industry, in retail and in the public sector. But people always appreciated what I had to offer. That isn’t how I have felt since becoming a TA.”

Jane is particularly critical of newly qualified teachers, who, she says, “seem to think I’ve been put there just to get in the way”.

Many NQTs admit failing to make best use of TAs - but they, in turn, point the finger at initial teacher training courses, which they claim do nothing to prepare them for life with a classroom assistant.

Andrew is a new teacher in a London primary school. “Throughout four years of training I was never given a single word of advice on how to handle teaching assistants or how to incorporate them into my work. It took me 18 months in post before I was really making good use of them. My course taught me how to teach, but once you have another adult in the classroom you aren’t just a teacher, you’re a manager. That’s a different skill.”

His experience is echoed by many NQTs. While a handful of courses require students to spend a day working as an assistant, most offer no specific training. Course co-ordinators typically cite “pressure of time”, one claiming “it’s more about common sense. We would expect students to pick up that sort of skill during their placements.”

But Andrew says that while he was on teaching practice, any assistants were usually taken from his class and deployed elsewhere in the school. “The strategy seemed to be, ‘let’s see how he copes without any help’. In any case, the whole point of training is to make sure these things are not left to chance.”

For NQTs, the prospect of suddenly being “in charge” of another adult - often older - can be daunting. Some have a misplaced feeling of being under constant observation. “Teacher training conceptualises the classroom as a place for one adult only,” says Roger Hancock of the Open University, who recently directed research for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)on the developing role of classroom assistants. “But that is changing, and will change further over the next five years. Training courses need to respond quickly and establish modules related to the management of classroom assistants.”

In many ways the ESRC research is heartening as it suggests that many teachers are leaning more and more on their TAs for support. It says that three-quarters of classroom assistants are actively involved in the assessment of children’s work, while more than a fifth take responsibility for the whole class for a small proportion of lesson time.

“When the use of TAs works well - when teacher and assistant work as a team - it’s an exciting vision for how classroom teaching could develop,” says Mr Hancock. “Increasing the number of assistants could be the long-term solution to recruitment difficulties.”

But the report also finds that the growing contribution made by TAs in the classroom is not reflected in their pay and conditions; many are paid little more than the minimum wage, although government guidelines say pay and conditions are a matter for each local education authority. The ESRC research also reveals that only one in five TAs is offered career development or a part in the school’s appraisal structure.

“You can’t inject ideas about how to stretch the role of assistants, while treating them as unskilled manual labourers,” says Mr Hancock. “It’s exploitation.”

Camelsdale first school in West Sussex, for example, ensures staff know how to use TAs properly, while at the same time giving them a rewarding career structure. The school’s seven assistants are fully involved in staff meetings, learning conferences, lesson planning, evaluation and pupil monitoring. Each has a clear job profile and is offered continuing professional development. The more experienced also act as mentors to newcomers.

But as head Sarah Palmer points out, their role can develop only as far as the teachers allow it. “We have worked hard on helping staff to get the best out of assistants. When the local authority offers training for them, we also send a teacher along. And we set time aside for teachers and assistants to plan and review together. It’s all about partnership.

“It’s a shame when schools don’t make the most of assistants. I’m convinced they are the way forward - and I think more and more heads recognise that.”

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF TAS

* Make sure you know what qualifications each assistant has. The range of training varies enormously.

* Take time to get to know them. Find out about their lives outside the classroom. Most bring plenty of other experience to the job.

* Don’t be afraid to tell assistants what you expect from them. The teacher is in charge; the assistant is there to support. The clear hierarchy is one factor in creating a successful teacherassistant relationship.

* Try to provide the assistant with a lesson plan in advance.

* If a TA is attached to a particular child, seek his or her advice on dealing with that pupil. The TA will have spent a lot of time with the child and will know him or her well. Children often confide in TAs.

* Ask the assistant for feedback about lessons. And don’t take suggestions as criticism.