By Gary Eason Education editor, BBC News website, at the NUT conference

NUT leader Steve Sinnott is seeking talks with ministers

The biggest education union has voted to support ballots for industrial action to oppose government plans for teaching in England and Wales.

The NUT says the plans to allow classroom assistants to take sole charge of whole classes amount to "teaching on the cheap".

Other classroom unions support the plans, designed to give teachers time for marking and preparation.

NUT leaders have called on ministers to assess staffing levels.

'Essential work'

The NUT has recently concluded a mutually supportive agreement with Unison, the main union representing non-teacher support staff in schools.

On Saturday the general secretary, Steve Sinnott, received a letter from his counterpart at the Transport and General Workers' Union saying it also wanted to end the exploitation of support staff but without hurting the role and employment of teachers.

Delegates at the NUT's annual conference, in Gateshead, praised the work of classroom assistants.

Liam Conway from Nottinghamshire said: "What teaching assistants do is essential to the quality of education that schools offer.

What's 'modern' about trying to put cheap, untrained learning assistants in front of my children? Jan Neilsen, teacher

"This motion will nail the lie that that NUT is elitist and opposed to teaching assistants in schools."

They deserved "significant pay rises" and a proper career structure.

Ian Murch from Bradford backed the call for an end to the way many assistants are paid only during school terms.

He said often they were "forced to scrape a living by combining two or more part-time jobs".

'Victorian'

But the union has a long-standing opposition to their taking classes while teachers have their preparation time.

Wandsworth teacher Jan Neilsen said: "What's 'modern' about trying to put cheap, untrained learning assistants in front of my children?

"There's nothing modern about that - the Victorians invented it."

The motion delegates adopted called for a public sector union moratorium on the government's "workforce remodelling" proposals, and their renegotiation.

Listening to some of the speakers you would think we were descending into some form of sub-Marxist debating chamber Simon Horne, NUT delegate

It called on NUT leaders to support industrial action ballots, co-ordinated with support staff unions to secure agreements on the changes they wanted to see.

Simon Horne from Barnet said this was the wrong strategy.

Other unions would not back it and it was "politically na�ve", he said.

"Listening to some of the speakers you would think we were descending into some form of sub-Marxist debating chamber," he said.

But this was a minority voice.

One-day strike

The conference went on to say teachers' workloads could only genuinely be reduced if schools had the money to recruit sufficient qualified teachers.

It called for nationally co-ordinated industrial action - including a one-day strike - to secure that funding.

Mr Sinnott told journalists later that consideration of industrial action would take its place among other priorities.

But he called on the Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, to work with the union on identifying the number of staff needed to implement her changes.

The numbers in the system could then be monitored and steps could be taken so that his members' worst fears were not realised.