Speaking at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) annual conference, members warned that the government's education reforms are ill-conceived. Delegates passed a motion to start a campaign to keep the school leaving age at 16.
Union members will also lobby for the reintroduction of technical schools specialising in vocational education, as an alternative to expanding the academies programme.
Phil Whalley, a teacher from Hardenhuish School in Wiltshire said raising the school leaving age deprives pupils' their freedom of choice.
He said: "Instead of this repressive, negative policy of compulsion, pupils and parents should make the decison for themselves."
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