THE Government was facing a classroom revolt last night as the National Union of Teachers vowed to scupper national tests - and threatened to strike to stop job losses caused by funding cuts.

A quarter of a million teachers in England and Wales will be balloted some time in the next year on a boycott of primary and secondary national curriculum tests due to be taken by about two million children in 2004.

And, as the school budgets row continued, the union's annual conference in Harrogate voted unanimously in favour of industrial action if NUT members were made redundant as a result.

The Standard Assessment Tests (Sats) could be in even more trouble later this week. At its annual conference, the NAS/UWT teaching union will debate calls for the abolition of tests taken by seven and 14-year-olds.

The NUT has voted for a boycott involving refusing to enter children for the tests at seven, 11 and 14 in England. In Wales, the boycott will apply to older children as the Welsh Assembly has already abolished tests for seven-year-olds.

One NUT activist claimed the tests were a form of "child abuse" that fuelled rising rates of mental illness.

Last night, Brian Fisk, a governor of Darlington's Harrowgate Hill Junior School, said: "A school's ranking in league tables can depend on the exams, so it is putting pressure on schools to get good results. They're not realistic or meaningful and this pressure is transmitting to the children."

Teachers last boycotted the tests in 1993-94, soon after they were introduced, and wrung concessions from the then Conservative Government which led to a slimming down of the workload associated with the national curriculum.

However, the profession has never liked them and has been particularly annoyed by their use to rank schools in league tables.

Last week, the more moderate Association of Teachers and Lecturers held back from voting to boycott English tests for 14-year-olds amid concerns about the legality of such a move under trade union law.

But NUT general secretary Doug McAvoy said the NUT was convinced it had the law on its side - and would win the support of parents.

Seven-year-olds take tests in English and maths, while 11 and 14-year-olds have to do them in science as well.

A Department for Education and Skills spokesman said: "We are not going back to the days when we had no regular information about how pupils were doing in school.

"Assessment is vital to ensure continued improvements in learning and teaching. It means that pupil's progress can be tracked, enabling teachers to give pupils greater support and motivation."

On Friday, the NUT produced a report showing schools faced deficits of up to £750,000 this year.

School standards minister David Miliband said up to £500m had yet to make its way from local education authorities (LEAs) to individual primaries and secondaries.

That claim left the Local Government Association mystified, however, and Mr McAvoy said: "I think the Government has to come clean. It can't go on knocking the ball about between them and the employers (LEAs).

"I don't care who is right, the Government or the employers. The money has to get to schools."

Darlington's newest school - the £2m Firthmoor Juniors - is already facing financial difficulty.

Governors will hold a crucial meeting after the holidays when teacher redundancies could be considered.

Across the North-East, union leaders say 100 jobs could go by the end of May because of the funding crisis.

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