Teachers to battle red tape (From This Is Wiltshire)

Hundreds of teachers in Wiltshire will take industrial action next week in a bid to reduce their workload.

Members of the NUT and NASUWT unions are expected to take action short of striking on Wednesday.

Andy Woolley, south west regional secretary of the NUT, said the action was unlikely to affect pupils.

He said: “It is aimed at reducing teachers’ workload from excessive demands that have been made on them in recent times.

“What we are looking at is removing unnecessary planning, limiting the number of meetings and cutting the amount of bureaucracy. We want to cut things like chasing up pupil absences, which can be done by people who are not qualified teachers.

“It is not strike action and it is not stopping things like after-school clubs and activities which teachers have volunteered for.”

The NASUWT and the NUT originally planned to take action yesterday, but changed the date over legal issues.