Ministers are counting on having more assistants

Critical motions tabled for the local government conference of the public sector union Unison, starting on Sunday, refer to "teaching on the cheap" in the plan to let assistants take classes unsupervised.

There are also complaints of inadequate consultation and an accusation that Unison leaders have been out "to sell and not explain the government's proposals".

Already simmering discontent about pay and conditions has been fuelled by the funding crisis this year, which has meant many schools are reducing their use of support staff.

" We have tied our hands behind our backs in terms of negotiating fair rates of pay for our members in schools who are paid poverty levels," says a motion from the union's Camden branch.

The government's proposals on teachers' workload include the provision that, from this autumn, teachers will no longer have to carry out a list of 25 routine administrative tasks.

Teachers opposed

Another resolution to the Unison conference says guidance states "that the tasks should not automatically be passed to teaching assistants but should be negotiated in the 'normal way'."

But, it adds, "no national system exists for such negotiations and is therefore concerned that the 'normal way' merely adds up to telling teaching assistants to take on new tasks".

The allegation of "teaching on the cheap" echoes the main complaint about the agreement from the biggest teachers' union, the NUT.

It did not sign the deal with the government when Unison and the other main education unions did.

But the Unison leadership argues that the agreement recognises long-standing anomalies facing school support staff and offers the best opportunity for years to put them right.

The School Standards Minister, David Miliband, is due to address the Unison conference on Sunday afternoon.