Education Secretary Michael Gove’s plans to force teachers to work longer hours for fewer pounds were dashed yesterday by an independent review.

Mr Gove proposed a devastating deregulation of pay and conditions to the annual School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) for England and Wales.

But his insistence that teachers were protected by over-prescriptive terms was rejected by chairwoman Dame Patricia Hodgson, who backed evidence from unions that showed frontline teachers are already overstretched.

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: “The STRB has delivered Michael Gove a huge blow by rebuffing his recommendations for further attacks on teachers’ conditions and pay.

“While it is a real victory, it does not change the current working lives of teachers.

“Workload remains much too burdensome and two out of five teachers leave in the first five years.”

The report will boost the morale of members of the NUT and Welsh teachers union UCAC, who are preparing to launch strike action on March 26.

And it could influence the decision of the NASUWT executive, which meets today to decide whether their members will join the walkout.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: “Over the last two years teachers have demonstrated day in day out, through action short of strike action, the high value they place on the contractual provisions which enable them to focus on teaching and learning.”

Dame Patricia’s decision was also welcomed by teaching support staff union Unison, which had warned that teachers could be piled with administrative tasks currently carried out by their members.