Teachers reject class-size strike

Britain's second biggest teachers' union has voted narrowly against strike action over class sizes, it was announced yesterday.

But members of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) may still take action leading to children being sent home on a rota basis if they feel they are being asked to teach an unreasonable number of children. The consultative ballot followed a decision by the union's annual conference at Easter to back industrial action on rising class sizes. Up to 10,000 teachers' jobs are being lost this summer after the Government refused to fund a 2.7 per cent pay rise.

Almost 95 per cent of the union's members said they would be prepared to take action short of strikes, but 51 per cent said they would not go so far as to withdraw their labour.

Welcoming the result of the vote, Nigel de Gruchy, the union's general secretary, said:"NASUWT sincerely hopes that sufficient progress will be made, either in reducing class sizes or in making compensating reductions in workload so that no direct action of any kind will prove necessary."