Primary teachers have voted to back industrial action in response to a ban on promotion in schools and increasing workload for teachers.

Some 97 per cent of INTO members have voted to stop all involvement with the Department of Education’s ongoing programme of school self-evaluation.

The industrial action is limited to the self-evaluation programme and will not escalate to school closures.

The vote follows a ballot of primary teachers last week and a directive on non-cooperation will issue to all schools in the coming days.

The INTO is seeking an end to the ban on promotions in primary schools and the re-instatement of promoted posts lost over the last eight years.

The ban was introduced in 2008 and the union says it has led to the loss of thousands of promotions in primary schools.

The union argues this has severely hit the career prospects of teachers and has increased the work burden on teachers in schools.

INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said it was clear from the result that teachers have had enough of being expected to run schools without the necessary resources and supports.

“Teachers are not prepared to see the department continually ramp up requirements and pressures on schools while ignoring a ban on promotion that has devastated school management structures,” she said.

“The department cannot expect schools to endlessly expand the self-evaluation of teaching and learning and take on board the self-evaluation of leadership and management in schools while watching leadership and management structures built up over years being dismantled.”

Ms Nunan said it was not possible for schools to continue to innovate, deal with increasing societal problems and meet endless bureaucratic demands without the proper resources.

She said primary teachers were sending a clear message to the department that “enough is enough”.

She called on the Department of Education and Skills to respond positively to the INTO's demand for a lifting of the moratorium on posts of responsibility in schools and co-operate in alleviating workload in schools.