TEACHERS are set to move one step closer to forming a new “super union” today.

Special conferences of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) will vote on whether to ballot members on the merger plan.

Proponents say “professional unity” will bolster teachers’ industrial strength in facing off attacks on pay, pensions and school funding. They say the union would also be in a better position to fight academisation and the opening of new grammar schools.

Teachers are currently represented by three main unions — the other being NASUWT, which is not involved in the merger plan. There are also a raft of additional unions representing heads, university staff, support workers, non-teaching staff and teachers in Scotland and Wales.

Professor Howard Stevenson, an education expert at the University of Nottingham, said today’s conferences were “hugely significant” for the future of education.

“The idea of professional unity in the teaching profession has been discussed for decades and often really struggled to get meaningful traction,” he told the Star.

“This is a huge breakthrough we should all be really hoping it’s successful.”

Prof Stevenson said the threats posed to national collective bargaining by schools becoming academies were even harder to face when teachers were divided between different unions.

“Almost paradoxically, the break-up of state education has made teachers realise that their own fragmented structures confound the problems. In the face of this, teachers acting collectively is more important than ever,” he added.

The plans were approved by substantial majorities of delegates at the annual conferences of both the NUT and the ATL earlier this year.

NUT professional unity committee chair Gawain Little said: “Tomorrow presents a massive opportunity for the teaching profession.

“It’s the first step towards uniting into a single union and that will give huge strength to teachers, parents, students and all fighting for better education.”