Over 50% of schools have created new non-teaching roles in the last two years to stop teachers getting mired in administration, and allow them to get on with teaching, according to research by Select Education.

The majority of non-teaching roles created have been pupil welfare orientated, with cover supervision (45%), behaviour management (41%) and pastoral care (34%) topping the list.

This complements the DfES’ Raising Standards and tackling workload: national agreement, as it will see a shift of teachers’ clerical responsibilities to trained support staff, freeing time for teachers to concentrate on teaching.

Peter Flannery, managing director of select education says: “It’s a challenge, but the linchpin to schools building the most effective workforce is to identify the most appropriate mix of staff for the individual school... It isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution so it needs a strategic approach… to ensure employees are carrying out the most appropriate tasks for their skill set and qualifications to not only produce and create an effective learning environment but also improve the over-all quality of education.”