static class member resolution

I have the following in a class : $this->modelHandler = Handler; $this->modelHandler::staticMethod(); I am receiving a parse error problem in the second line. Handler is a class definition, and staticMethod is a static method. Handler is assigned to class variable modelHandler, but the above will return a parse Error. At the same time if I assign $this->modelHandler to a variable and call the staticMethod on that it works without a problem. I would like to make the above work, because its superfluous to have to assign a class Variable to a local variable to access it. $this->modelHandler = Handler; $handler = $this->modelHandler; $handler::staticMethod(); The above works. Any insight into resolution by using something like {$this->modelHandler}::Handler would be appreciated. Regards Loknath Bharti