I'm a teacher on maternity leave, trying to decide if I should go back to the classroom. I love my job, but being in the classroom from 7am til 6pm and then bringing home 2 -3 hrs of work does not leave much time for my own children.
I had a summer this year for the first time since I left university in 1992 - it is usually spent clearing up last years paperwork, cleaning the classroom and setting up for September.
I do not agree with strike action, but do agree that our pay rises have been paltry (particularly when compared with those the MPs have voted for themselves.... Teachers don't get expenses...) over the last few years. What many people don't realise when they are announced in the press is that they are phased in, so we don't see the money for quite a while!
There never will be a solution that will stop people thinking we have an easy ride. But please try our job before being so quick to complain. -Ask my 11 yr old how much holiday I actually get and then say it's easy!

Ann-Marie, Dunstable,

Why give them a rise at all. Public sector is out of touch with reality and is paid far too much. What makes teachers think they are worth any more than workers in private industry

pat, chatham, uk

My father was a teacher when I was growing up. He had a first class degree and a pHD from LSE. He'd get in late from college, stay up all evening marking and preparing classes, have to go to meetings where he'd have to swallow all this new marketing speak and discuss targets. I only really saw him in the summer holidays when at around August he'd get seriously depressed by the 'Back to School' signs in shop windows. The four of us lived in a pokey two-up-two-down 60s terrace. Then he was attacked at school by a pupil with a knife suffered depression from the lack of support he received and took early retirement. Then he got a job in the Far East where he was paid three times his then salary to teach kids who were well-behaved and appreciative and he's never looked back. Who would?

Sarah, London, UK

It is very saddening to see that, after over 20 years, when teachers are beginning to voice their concerns in a no nonsense fashion - not just over pay, but over retention, class sizes, discipline and workload (the long, work free holidays are a myth - do the job then mock it) some people use it as an opportunity to offend teachers and berate a profession that works hard for the children and young people it cares about. Yes all public sector workers deserve better, and when their unions decide to make a stand I am sure they will have the backing of the teachers. Good teachers make a difference under incredibly difficult situations; schools are expected to do more in the bringing up of our nations children than ever before. Those people using the strike to get at a profession they dont fully understand, or fell out with during their own school days should think again. Not all teachers are bad ones, not all parents are good ones. We know every child matters, so does every teacher.

Adam, Sheffield,

I think 10% is unrealistic - but would like a payrise to compensate for petrol, fuel and food increases.

Would also have been better if NUT hadn't though about the message (although misreported) about the army in schools last week.

What is needed is a protest about pressure on children (why do my 5 year olds need to know if they are level 1A or 2B in all subjects?), the change in the English Language where satisfactory is no longer satisfactory, the change in maths where everyone must be above average, the massive bureaucratic increase in paperwork and ill thought out initiatives, class sizes and the fact that many children are simply put off by education because of the target led, narrowly focused curriculum.

Robin Duckworth, York, UK

As usual many teachers put their needs before the children in their care. Our 17 year old has Asperger's syndrome, and has had to work extra hard to achieve good grades in the hope of getting to uni this year. A caring teacher's help has always been essential to his progress. However the special teacher who does really care about their work and the special needs of pupils is not common.

Is the money so bad? New people who have just moved in across the road from us - both teachers - have an expensive car each, live in one of the better large houses in town, have lights on all over the house day and night, and come summer will I expect take long holidays in distant places. They are often out going to the gym, and send their kids to a private school

John Morgan, Chesterfield, Derbyshire

I'm at school, sitting my GCSEs 2 weeks after the proposed strike and if my teachers decide to go on this strike it will be of a great affect to myself and other children as now, every day makes a difference to me. So, I hope none of my teacher to go on strike. Also i think teachers get payed very well compared to, for example, nurses. Many of my teachers have told us how much they earn and I was surprised at how high it was! I noticed that kelly, oxfordshire said that students do not respect teachers which I think is very unfair to generalise students like that.

Basically, I dont agree with the teacher strike but if they are going to have one, couldn't they have decided to have it at a less crucial time for students?

Katie, London,

Teachers deserve higher pay, as sadly most pupils don't behave like the ones in the 'Use your head. Teach.' ads. Maybe the Government should spend less on paying actors to pretend to be teachers, and more on giving current and potential teachers an incentive to stay in education.

Alex, Douglas, Isle of Man

If the country were run as a business then teachers, with their qualifications, years of training, hours of working and levels of responsibility, would be paid an appropriatley handsome wage.

Phill Arrowsmith, Wirral,

Oh boy, what I wouldn't give for a 2.45% pay rise. As an ex-serviceman (full career - 37 years) followed by further service in the MoD, and now a 'senior citizen' , I am appalled by the militancy and selfishness demonstrated by the NUT. Following on from the recent decision by the same union to ban the military from educational establishments and their demonstrable inability (despite doctored statistics) to deliver quality education and personal standards, I thank God that I have no children at school.

Lancelot, Yeovil, England

LESS than a quarter of NUT members voted for a strike. The nuts are back to their old ways of poiltical war mongering and sod the pupils or the country. An ex teacher

Keith, Perigueux, France

Think about it, if not for the teachers to educate you, who do you think you are to be in a highly paid job and live a millionare lifestyle? Think about a role of a teacher, without them a country simply cannot function, you would not be a politician nor a scientist.

Rail and tube workers call on a strike every few months in a year, disrupting millions of commuters and bussineses. Teachers should call on more strike like the rail and tube workers to increase the awareness and importance of education!

Remember teachers and the backbone of a country and children are the asset of the country!

Please do teachers some justice!

KK, London, UK

Paying teachers more money is not the solution to poor standards in state education. In Scotland teachers benefited from what is known as the 2001 McCrone agreement. This agreement gave teachers over £1 billion of additional money; but last year it was adjudged by HMIE to have brought about no significant improvement in teaching standards.

It is lunacy that taxpayers should be expected to pay more for a deteriorating standard of service.

Des, Edinburgh,

May I kindly suggest that those people who wish to comment on this debate, who are not themselves part of the education system, refrain. Unless they are prepared to investigate further the role of a teacher, they are only commenting in ignorance. I would welcome anyone into my classroom to witness what my job role actually consists of and I guarantee the vast majority would be extremely shocked by the amount of hours we actually put in. We battle through, unable to achieve a close to reasonable work life balance, because we care about the children. Marking over 100 books some evenings, keeping assessment records and reams of paperwork, attending meetings, leading subjects and supporting other staff, planning and delivering outstanding lessons with greater and greater expectations placed upon us, SATs stress and league tables, spending our own money on resources... I could go on and on. We deserve to get paid with inflation at least and not taken for granted so much.

Shelly, Nottingham,

What about Teaching Assistants?

Julia, Lowestoft,

The government needs to look after all of its public sector workers. As a household of two NHS employees we are set to feel twice the pain of a below inflation pay rise. I fully support the teachers who have a difficult job and do have the ability to strike. This strike will not only benefit their cause, but also that of all other public sector workers. 10% is unrealistic but they deserve half of that.

Andy Davies, Leeds, UK

A touch of deja vu...I wonder when the rubbish will start piling up in the streets

Jane, Saffron Walden,

It's incredible the amount of money such well-educated people can expect to receive if they work in the state sector. If A-Level teachers had taken their qualifications and intellects into the private sector they'd be on 6 figure salaries. No wonder the government can't get the quality of staff they used to. With the violence and disheartening disrespect they receive in the classroom, coupled with long hours of marking and poorly educated 'manager-type' bosses, it's a shock that anyone would want to teach! Especially when part-time fire 'fighters' earn so much more than they do and still complain!

Emily Murray, London, UK

Extra jobs during holiday time? Long luxurious holidays? Education received not being value for money?
Give me a break - teachers are overstretched, underresourced, and 99.9% of the time doing an amazing job under shockingly poor conditions. Please, feel free to mock and scorn our profession, but i would like to see the same people teach a class of 32 mixed ability 13, 14, 15 or 16 year olds who are disaffected with life, fed up of poor home backgrounds, or just being teenagers. Then they might realise the task we face. Yes, £20k starting salary is great, but it is insufficient to gain a mortgage for any house larger than a show box, and if a mortgage is granted there is little surplus for all the other necessities in life! Plus i spent close to £1000 of own money on resources for my lessons last year - my choice but one i felt had to be made to provide quality of education

Sam, Leicester,

As usual, the NUT are totally unrealistic. 10% is ridiculous. As a retired teacher I can tell you, Ruth, that you are very wrong. Some schools are a nightmare but that is usually the fault of parents who fail to instill values in their children; not the fault of teachers. I wonder how well you do your job? Can we come and inspect you?As for being paid well, Chris, you are not entirely out of line. Teachers are quite well paid nowadays but a less than 3% pay rise is a cut in their standard of living. That always used to happen and that is where the rot set in . Industry does, on the whole, at least keep up with inflation. On the other hand, holidays are good (although well deserved) and job security is excellent. The pension is also good. You have to take the whole package into account but I will never accept that all schools, or even most, are useless. Finally, in reply to "If the country was run as a business" then a good business would invest in research and training. Education!

A Smith, Bath, UK

The FIRST thing they should do is change their name. NUT???? As is, are you nuts to keep this acronym!

Miss May, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

Yes, that's right Richard, let's run the country as a business, rather than a service to its citizens. Rather than treat education as a right, why don't we treat all the children as products that require to be finely honed in a uniform way, rather than human beings. We nearly do anyway!

And let's sack all the teachers. All the teachers like me, for example. Never mind that the number of children moving into this country is huge, and that the number of children who don't speak English as a first language is consequently on the up, making my highly-skilled job even more challenging.

Never mind that there are massive shortages of teachers of several subjects, that teaching is one of the worst professions I know of for people going on long-term stress-related sick leave, or that current pay levels are failing to keep young teachers in the profession.

Or that the most successful education systems in the world have better respect, and pay, for their teachers.

I'm not NUT, btw.

Phil, London,

Good for the teachers at last they are standing up for themselves!!!

Andrew, cROYDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Teachers work incredibly hard for very little reward or recognition: children today do not value education, are rude, disrespectful and disruptive. When children do work hard, and rightly so get good grades, the media sneer that exams are getting easier - no mention of the many hours spent working evenings and weekends by the staff to ensure that success in the first place. It is at times a very demoralising and stressful job in which one has to run in order to stand still.
This on top of the endless paper work generated by HM government obsessed with target setting and standards - a battle hard won when the students are switched off and uninterested in anything you might have to say and regardless of how you wish to say it. Staff often face abuse in the classroom and the system allows students to get away with it because it is known there is little to be done.

I think the issue boils down to respect - the students don't respect what teachers do - and neither does the government.

Kelly , Oxfordshire, UK

10% is quite a modest pay demand given that it is below the real rate of inflation. This should be a wake-up call for the BoE.

Paul, Coventry,

Whe you're in a job when the salary is shouted from the screen in television adverts as a reason to do it, playing the poverty card is not a particulary intelligent thing to do.
Walk in the door on £20k a year.
Average of £34k a year outside London for standard teachers.
And let's not forget summer, Christmas, Easter and half-term holidays, plus opportunities to earn extra cash doing summer schools etc.
I respect and admire the work teachers do, but come on. More powers to deal with scummy kids, yes. More time to do the things they got in the job to do, ie teaching, yes.
But surely not even more money?

Chris, Worthing, England

They are not worth it. Visit any school and it will become apparent very quickly.

judy, Liverpool, England

It nice to know labour are still on a 10 year high - highest rate of inflation (although not as bad as Iceland!), highest number of personal & corporate bankruptcies/ liquidations and now the highest number of strike threats, the teachers, tube staff & other civil servants need to join the real world. If the counrty were run as a business many teachers, tube drivers & consultants would have been out of a job years ago!

Richard, London,