TEACHERS in the south have backed a call for industrial action over plans to give classroom assistants more responsibility.

School staff could refuse to teach classes of more than 27 pupils and boycott the government's standard assessment tests in protest at the move.

They are also planning to refuse to co-operate with any requests to support teaching assistants when they take on tasks unions claim should be performed by teachers alone.

The move was discussed during a heated debate at the National Union of Teachers conference in Yorkshire. The NUT was the only major teaching union not to agree to greater responsibilities for assistants earlier this year.

Southampton NUT branch secretary Pete Sopowski said: "We hope to negotiate with Southampton City Council that teachers will not be forced to

prepare, mark and be responsible for the learning of children when they have been taught by a teaching assistant. This sort of mad plan will just add to teachers' workload and

hopefully parents understand that."

City education chief Ian Sandbrook said: "We look forward to having full discussions with the local representatives of the teaching unions to ensure we continue to provide the very best education for the young people of Southampton."

The NUT will ballot members on the action later this year.