Teachers, as a postgraduate profession, are already underpaid (last time I checked the average starting salary of a postgraduate was £23,000) and the below-inflation pay rise will cut this further. When entering the teaching profession you are told that the more responsibility you take on the more you can earn, but this is not true and you are kept on the main pay scale which finishes at £32,000.

How many other jobs are there where you study at university for four years and then six years down the line you are only paid £32,000 and are expected to give up evenings, weekends, most of your holiday and family life (a solicitor with similar circumstances would be on about £50,000)?

The strike is about securing the earnings that teachers need to bring them into line with other professions with similar qualifications. We work evenings and weekends (even though this may be at home, we still have to work) with teachers working an average of 50 hours per week.

We are expected to work during holidays, that means that we get no more "time off" than the average office worker. If you take all this into account, we are being paid £7 an hour which is ridiculous for the amount of studying we have had to do.

This is not made clear when you start teaching and is the reason why one in five teachers leave within the first five years. If teachers are not paid enough then more will leave, leading to shortages and perhaps school closures. Parents may have to home educate their children, have unqualified people looking after their children or pay for private education. We have the future of the UK in our hands and it is time the government recognises this and awards fair pay.

Miss W. Arnell