We've been working closely with the teacher and head teacher associations to take a hard look at workloads and the need to raise standards

Estelle Morris

The 30 head teachers will be given seven hours of professional support on how to tackle the problem of teacher workload.

And teachers in these schools will be given guaranteed time out of the classroom - so-called non-contact time.

The schools will be able to appoint extra support staff - one extra in primaries and four extra in secondaries - in the form of classroom assistants, bursars, IT specialists, as the head sees fit.

The Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, revealed details of the scheme on Friday in a speech at the North of England Education Conference in Huddersfield.

Raising standards

Ms Morris explained how "remodelling" what teachers do could raise standards in schools.

She also talked of the government's aim to move towards "individualised learning", where teachers' planning time was spent preparing lessons for individual pupils.

Ms Morris wants to free up teachers to get on with their jobs

"We know that we cannot transform the teaching profession overnight - we must engage in an informed debate on the future of our schools," the minister said.

"The aim of what I'm trying to do is to make sure that teachers use all their time in teaching children.

"They're the best trained people in school and it's wrong to be using their time and their expertise in tasks that could be done more effectively by other people," said Ms Morris.

This would mean a more enhanced role for classroom assistants, but - with some threatening to take strike action over pay and Ms Morris refusing to intervene - the government's plans could be hindered.

The experiment is set to begin in September this year, but the basis on which the 30 schools will be selected has not yet been decided.

Elite heads

The education secretary also suggested there could be a new type of head teacher, responsible for a group of schools, not just one.

Some heads were excellent strategic managers, Ms Morris told delegates, and several schools at once should benefit from their talents.

"I'm just looking for ways of organising the management of schools that give them more influence than just influence over their schools, such as being strategic managers of a cluster," she said.

They could decide to move staff around between the schools in the cluster - for example, sending teachers from successful schools to work in those that were struggling, she added.