Teaching union leaders have decided to boycott routine classroom tasks in their continuing battle against heavy workloads.

National Union of Teachers Cymru ruled to abandon tasks such as taking the class register unless government ministers promise more money for support staff.

Union members say time spent on paperwork and other such routine jobs takes them away from their real job in the classroom.

Teachers want to spend less time on paperwork

At their meeting in Cardiff, officials demanded more Welsh investment from Chancellor Gordon Brown ahead of his Comprehensive Spending Review on Monday.

The announcement will reveal the degree of funding allocated to the Welsh Assembly from the Treasury.

It is expected teachers will refuse to perform the tasks from September without clear indications extra money is coming their way.

Assistant pressure

Hundreds of teachers lobbied at the House of Commons on 3 July, upset they work 50 to 60 hours each week and demanding the implementation of a 35-hour week, in common with their Scottish counterparts.

Friday's NUT Cymru meeting in Cardiff shows the union is serious about piling the pressure on Westminster and on Welsh Education Minister Jane Davidson.

But an April study by the schools inspectorate Ofsted instead showed classroom assistants at English primary schools were helping children with literacy and numeracy instead of aiding teachers with administrative chores.

Nevertheless, the UK Government pledged to recruit an extra 20,000 assistants before the next general election.

Any support staff plan considered by Ms Davidson, therefore, may have to both satisfy NUT Cymru and tweak the job description of support staff.

The body is one of Wales' largest teaching unions.