Teachers warn of boycott in the fight to cut workloads

Teachers will boycott excess paperwork if a new government does not act within a year to lighten their workloads, the second largest teaching union warned yesterday.

The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, meeting in Bournemouth, vows to take "whatever measures necessary" to ease the burden of bureaucracy.

The union pledged to carry out its threat only if a new administration elected on 1 May rejected the deal it offered, described by Mr de Gruchy as "social partnership with a sting in the tail". The Conservative government had let down teachers by phasing in an "already modest" 3.3 per cent pay award over eight months, the conference heard. The Labour Party was also criticised for failing to condemn phasing.

Tory manifesto proposals for a Royal College of Teachers won little support from Mr de Gruchy. He feared parents could try to use such a body to raise complaints about teachers they claimed were incompetent. Lucy Ward