Teachers' strike: Viewpoints

Thousands of school days are being disrupted by a one-day teachers' strike being staged by the National Union of Teachers in England and Wales. The walk-out has divided opinion.

Teachers have had below-inflation pay increases for the last three years and those are set to continue and the problem is not just teachers' pay, it is also the fact that it is not attracting enough people to come in and want to be teachers.

I think parents are bewildered because they hear that the average teacher earns about �34,000. Their pay has gone up by 19% in real terms since 1997 and that at 2.45% they're getting more than the 2% benchmark for public sector pay last year and that it's a reasonable deal. And they don't, as some parents have said, understand what this strike is about.

It is disappointing for children and parents that the NUT has pressed ahead with strike action. Children so close to their exams will lose out on invaluable study time and parents will lose out as they are forced to take unnecessary holiday to look after them.

We stand by our recommendations. We think it was a very fair settlement for teachers in all the circumstances.

It's a very unfortunate time for the NUT to have called this strike. Certainly, we don't think it was appropriate for them to strike this year, at all. But if they were going to, it certainly would have been better to do so after the examinations rather than before. The independent review body which governs teachers' pay has actually worked very well for teachers over the last 10 years or more.

Our evidence is that the strike has not really affected parents' attitudes to teachers. They are really supportive, but that is different from saying they are supportive of the strike. Many feel let down by not being informed and have had to make last-minute provision, with some just being given 24 hours notice.

It is deeply regrettable that so many children will have their education disrupted by this strike, especially as the pay deal was recommended by an independent panel and accepted by the other teaching unions. Many children have important exams coming up soon and can't afford to miss crucial lessons, and many parents will have to miss work to look after them.

The context is the pay settlements that have occurred over the last 10 years and also the agreement by other teaching unions to the pay offer and of course the comparison with other key workers like the police, health workers and so on. My own view is this particular decision by the NUT is not justified.

It certainly is high risk. Taking action on the equivalent to a 25% mandate from your members is certainly something that I would not be thinking of doing as a general secretary. We have certainly had an increased interest from NUT members looking for membership of the NAHT.

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