Teachers are due to vote on strike action over claims current working conditions are "intolerable".
Members of the NUT at their annual spring conference in Brighton are expected to discuss how workload, staff shortages and funding pressures are putting teachers under strain.
During a motion listed for Saturday, teachers will be asked to consider whether to "build a campaign to persuade members that national strike action will be necessary to bring about changes in the intolerable working conditions, and lack of work-life balance, created by current Government policies".
The motion states the growing staff shortage is partly "fuelled by the double whammy of record numbers of teachers leaving", sometimes due to stress, and lower numbers of people looking to get into the profession.
It also cites rising pupil numbers and reduced funding as contributing to teachers' burgeoning workload.
Members will be asked to consider whether to "campaign vigorously" using all available means to warn that unless the workload issue is resolved, "education in Britain will face a crisis in the years ahead".
Last month the Government's official spending watchdog found key teacher recruitment targets had been missed.
The National Audit Office found teacher shortages were growing, particularly in poorer areas.
Its report, as an example, found just over one-in-four physics lessons at secondary school level were being taught by staff with only as much as an A-level in the subject.
The Government, in response, said 1.4 million more pupils were being taught in schools rated good and outstanding compared with five years earlier.
Concerns about teacher workload are not new.
A report by the NUT in October 2015 found more than half of its members were considering leaving the profession in the next two years – with workload and the desire for a better work-life balance the two main triggers for quitting.
The survey found that two-fifths (39%) said they suffered low morale, while 53% were considering leaving in the next two years.
A majority (73%) also said they believed current policies for the school curriculum and pupil assessment were "narrow and uncreative".
The union said teachers were working anything up to 60 hours a week.
The Government launched its workload challenge survey in October 2014 to gauge staff satisfaction with the amount of time they were able to spend in the classroom.
Launching the survey, Nick Clegg, the then-Deputy Prime Minister, said teachers ought to be freed from "burdensome workloads".
A Department for Education spokesman said: "It's disappointing to see the NUT taking this approach instead of working constructively with us to ensure their members and teachers across the country deliver our vision for educational excellence everywhere.
"As set out in our White Paper we have a vision to spread educational excellence everywhere and are determined to continue raising the profession's status. It would be refreshing to see the NUT doing likewise."