A LOCAL teacher joined members of three national unions to lobby MPs in Parliament.

Judith Mills, Chorley's secretary of the National Association of School Masters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), gathered with hundreds of teachers for the rally in London, protesting at teachers' pay and conditions.

More than 100 union representatives from across the country, including the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, met in the central hall at Westminster for the rally.

Mrs Mills, a teacher at Astley Park School, Harrington Road, Chorley, said: "It's all to do with reducing teachers' workloads, and making teaching more attractive.

"The emphasis was to get immediate action for September so the government can start employing people to do some of the jobs the teachers are doing -- to release the teachers to teach.

"We are in a great position in Chorley. We've got great schools. The teachers are working hard and the standards are keeping up."

The rally came at the end of a review by Estelle Morris, Secretary of State for education and skills, into teachers workloads.

Mac Harrison, secretary of the Lancashire branch of NASUWT, said: "It was a very successful day in which three of the main teachers' unions lobbied Parliament.

"Teachers in Scotland went through this process 18 months ago. They have now moved to a 35-hour week.

"One of the major problems with teaching is the workload and the long hours. The unions are trying to put a reduction on the hours that teachers have to work.

"Our view is that if it's good enough for Scotland it's good enough for us."