The NASUWT is instructing members to take part in a programme of action short of strike action following ballots for industrial action last term.

The action is part of the Union’s campaign to secure real terms improvements to pay and bring downward pressure on workload and working hours.

The NASUWT National Action Committee is initially instructing members in schools and colleges to limit their working time by working to rule from today.

These include instructing members to refuse to undertake extracurricular activities, midday supervision, working during lunch breaks, being directed to work on weekends or Bank Holidays, not doing other tasks during PPA time and refusing to take part in mock inspections.

NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “We can no longer allow teachers to be overworked and exhausted by the demands of the job.

“The Government needs to take more urgent action on workload and working hours which are the key drivers leading to teachers and headteachers leaving the profession prematurely.

“Our action will ensure that teachers and headteachers can focus their time on teaching and learning whilst bringing immediate downward pressure on workload and working hours.

“The Government has accepted that excessive workload is a problem that must be tackled. But, the reality is that teachers in England are working some of the longest hours anywhere in the OECD and this is simply no longer acceptable or sustainable. We need to see greater urgency from the Government and more investment to tackle the workload crisis in schools and colleges.

“The industrial action beginning today will mean that for the first time in a decade specific measures and protections are being put into place to tackle excessive workload and working hours and to ensure teachers’ health, safety and welfare.”

The instructions are that members:

• Refuse to undertake inappropriately directed duties outside school session times
• Refuse to be directed to undertake extracurricular activities
• Refuse to be directed to undertake midday supervision of pupils
• Refuse to be directed to undertake any work-related tasks or activities during their lunch break
• Refuse to be directed to undertake work-related tasks or activities on weekends or Bank Holidays
• Refuse to undertake any other duties during Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) time
• Refuse to cover for absence other than in circumstances that are not foreseeable
• Refuse to undertake routine administrative and clerical tasks
• Refuse to co-operate with mock inspections
• Refuse to cooperate with inappropriate planning, marking and data management policies, practices and initiatives that have not been workload impact assessed and the subject of consultation or agreement with the NASUWT.