Thousands of schools across the country could face two more days of strike action ahead of next year’s general election.

TES can reveal that next week teaching union the NUT will launch a consultation with its members on the next phase of its campaign of industrial action over pay, pensions and working conditions.

While the union’s executive voted against joining support staff unions Unison, GMB and Unite for their strike on 14 October, the NUT will seek approval from its members to call “up to two more days” of strikes by 7 May 2015.

This marks the first time the union has formally consulted members over industrial action as part of its Stand Up For Education campaign since 2012.

Since then, the union has held several national and regional strikes, with the most recent one taking place in July alongside other public sector unions.

Some left-wing executive members have expressed frustration that the strategy agreed at the NUT annual conference in Brighton, to consult members on a “series of strikes through the autumn term and into 2015”, has been downgraded to a maximum of two days of action.

Patrick Murphy, a member of the hard-left Alliance for Workers’ Liberty who is standing against Kevin Courtney for deputy general secretary, criticised the “bad decision” not to hold a strike next month, which he said would come as a “major blow” to support staff who would be taking action without their teaching colleagues alongside them.

To read more about NUT’s strike plans, read this week’s TES on your tablet or phone by downloading the TES Reader app for Android or iOS. Or pick it up in all good newsagents.