What would be a sensible answer to this. Eight, including one for the head? A dozen, including the secretary and the cleaners? Not a bit of it. The correct answer is quite likely to be at least 20, for one of the most noticeable things about today’s primaries is the number of adults you find working in the classrooms, particularly in the infants.

It is not unusual to see, in addition to the teacher, a general classroom assistant, a special needs support assistant, two parent or grandparent volunteers, and a secondary school pupil on work experience. Of these, the paid assistants may have been well- trained on a specialist course run by the local authority or a university. The parent volunteers might have been prepared by the school for the task of hearing readers. The work experience pupil will probably be willing and pleasant, but not really able to do anything without direct supervision.

For the teacher, all of this presents a considerable management challenge over and above the already full-time task of running a class of 30 or so young children. A key stage 1 teacher cannot easily, for example, take her attention away from the class to run a briefing or discussion with her assistants.

This means that, for each session of the day, each of her supporting adults has to have a clear idea not only of what to do, but also of how to cope with unexpected changes of plan. Where this is not the case, and there is inadequate management of adult helpers, there is a real danger of frustration and ill-tempered encounters which are of no help to children’s learning. For example, a teacher who feels that a classroom helper is unable to think creatively about the job may end up openly saying that she would be better off without any help at all. The helper, for her part, may be grumbling to colleagues that she is wasting her time because the teacher will not tell her clearly what to do.

There are other dangers, too. One was described to me by a registered inspector who had observed it at first hand: “A young and inexperienced teacher finds herself in a reception or nursery class with two very experienced helpers and is unable to assert her leadership. The helpers then effectively ensure that the class is run the way they like it.” Where this kind of thing is allowed to continue, the fault obviously lies with senior management’s inability to see either the problem or do something about it.

I asked the same inspector whether the management of classroom support was an inspection issue. The answer, of course, was that it most certainly was. “What we look for is whether the way the helpers are being used actually helps to further children’s learning. In good schools there is a whole-school policy covering the work and training of classroom helpers and volunteers.”

There are wide professional implications here. If teachers can clearly establish that part of their job is to manage a competent and respected team of “para-professionals” then their own professionalism can only be enhanced.