Technicians as lab demonstrators?

The number of support staff employed in our schools has greatly increased over the last twenty years and this has had many benefits for teachers. IT technicians solve our issues with computers, reprographics technicians do our photocopying and teaching assistants work with us in the classroom so that we are not spread too thinly. We have been quick to utilise and develop the roles of these newer members of staff, but as science teachers have we further developed the role of our technicians? Our science technicians have been with us for a long time, but does this mean that we have taken them for granted? Do we really use these valuable team members to the maximum benefit of the children we teach? My experience tells me that the answers to these questions depend upon the qualifications, skills and attributes of the teachers and technicians in the science department and the dynamic between them. Technicians perform an essential service in the practical support of teaching staff, but as budgets get tighter and class sizes larger, perhaps it is time that we look to our technicians for direct support in the classroom.