HEADTEACHERS in East Lancashire are thinking the unthinkable. After Easter they will join colleagues in 20,000 schools across the country in a ballot on industrial action.

Members of the National Association of Headteachers and the Secondary Heads Association have got into a complicated row with the Government over performance-related pay for their staff.

Three years ago the then Education Secretary David Blunkett put forward a new pay deal for teachers which would give them an extra £2,000 a year if they could prove they were good at their jobs. Teachers themselves had to fill in lengthy forms assessing their own performance -- and most got the money. But now heads are being called on continually to assess staff and make the judgements about who should receive new performance-related rises. They say the Government is not putting up enough money for the scheme to work fairly and that many teachers will not receive the award they deserve.

Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris has told the heads that they are paid high salaries to make just such tough decisions, but, according to David Hart, general secretary of the NAHT, his members are saying: "Enough is enough."

In other words, if they can't hand out performance-related pay fairly they won't hand it out at all.

And that won't please teachers.