Teachers leaders and their employers are to make a joint response to proposals on cutting teacher workloads.

The move follows the publication last week of the workload report from the School Teachers' Review Body. Officials from the two groups will meet on Friday of next week to consider areas of agreement for their response.

Forum Response: National Union of Teachers

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the NUT, told ePolitix.com: "The aim is to submit the joint response to the government early in July to support the education secretary in her bid for additional funding from the chancellor in the comprehensive spending review, to be announced later in the month.

"The decision to make a joint response is recognition of the influence the joint submission from the employers and the teachers organizations had on the STRB report and is a measure of the seriousness of the difficulties facing our teachers.

"The government's poster to schools on administrative jobs teachers should not do is insufficient. There must be real indications of help for teachers in our schools in September.

"One way would be for the government to release immediately some of the £1.4 billion underspend from last year. This would enable schools to bring in additional administrative assistance to make the ideas in that poster a reality.

"The government must demonstrate that help is coming if we are to avoid a continuing exodus of teachers from the profession."