The big question for education in 2002 is how to continue to raise standards, which must be a national priority. The key answer appears simple: we need to attract and keep the best teachers.

But doing that will be neither cheap nor easy. Hard cash is part of the solution but so too is the need for a change in attitudes towards the teaching profession. Teachers will look to ministers for signals that show they understand and respect them as professionals and for real investment in support, so that what is expected of them is achievable.

One of the most powerful signals that a government sends is to spend money. Will they come up with sufficient funding so overloaded staff can get preparation and marking time? Will they recognise that, to avoid a haemorrhage of young teachers from London and the South-east, they must address the higher cost of living there? And will they give teachers the tools to do the job, particularly good professional support staff to relieve burdens they need not be carrying?

On this last point, we surely need a mature discussion about what professional support teachers need, which goes beyond the defensive posturing which has taken place so far. We need to confront the fact that currently “assistants” are an exploited group of largely female workers. They are local, often mothers, experienced and mature; many of them are graduates, and highly motivated. But, despite what many bring to the job, they are casually employed, poorly paid and have no career structure or job security. This flies in the face of equal opportunities and cannot be a starting point for solving staffing difficulties in schools.

On a more positive note, the fact is that practice in schools is already way ahead of the fixed positions that have been taken up. Vicki Patterson, primary head and a General Teaching Council member, employs equal numbers of teaching and support staff and regards this as a key factor in her school’s outstanding improvement in standards. She warns, however, that extra support staff are “not a short, sharp fix to replace teachers”. Teachers at her school lead and plan learning while support staff relieve them of a range of tasks. Her experience is that management must take on the responsibility of training support staff rather than loading it on to teachers.

An important support role is to help individual learners. Investment in trained adults to enhance learning across the range of ability, is hugely important now that children with a very wide range of attainment are in mainstream schools.

At secondary level there is a growing need for professionals with pastoral, counselling, social work and community liaison skills. Recruiting adults who reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity of the school community and who bring a range of skills, experience and qualifications can be enormously effective in engaging and motivating students, but it requires planned recruitment, training and investment.

There is another big plus to employing support staff. According to government research, 20 per cent of those supporting teachers would be interested in becoming teachers themselves - but that depends on making opportunities available, flexible and affordable. Even those who don’t want to be fully fledged teachers would like a route to qualifications and career progression. Many education authorities and heads give good access to training, but we lack a national training strategy and a framework of standards and accreditation.

The huge gulf between professionally qualified teachers and untrained “helpers” - some of whom have QTS but have chosen not to take on the full responsibilities of being a teacher - must be bridged. Recognised qualifications for these staff are essential not only to enable them to enhance the work of teachers and continue to improve standards of achievement but also as a guarantee of quality for parents.

A logical progression from these qualifications would be the regulation of para-professionals through a professional body. This is perhaps some way off but the GTC would be well placed to develop an Associate Register. It would need to be quite distinct and separate from the register of qualified teachers, but it would bring with it the opportunity for those who wanted to do so to progress to QTS.

One thing ministers must be clear about is that employing more assistants won’t in itself solve the workload problem. Earmarked funding is also needed to provide teachers with professional time. The good news, however, is that the presence of other trained adults in the classroom will improve the quality of education. Far from offering a cheapskate alternative to qualified teachers, their employment is an important part of teacher retention. Treat teachers like professionals, provide the support they need in order to teach, and they will stay.

Carol Adams is chief executive of the GTC for England