What do school children stand to learn from tomorrow’s strike by members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), which is expected to affect up to 10,000 schools?

If nothing else, they are likely to learn that life is full of paradoxes, for although the NUT has a strong case on paper, they appear to have garnered very little public support for their first national strike in 20 years and - crucially - no support from the other teaching unions.

The union is right to point out that teachers’ purchasing power is being eroded. Although their pay has risen by 19 per cent in real terms since Labour came to power in 1997, it has slipped back considerably in the last five years.

Since 2005 their pay has declined by nearly ten per cent as a result of below inflation pay settlements. The 2.45 per cent they are being offered for 2008/09 is significantly below the 3.8 per cent rate of the retail price inflation, and the current three-year pay deal offers the prospect of two further years of below inflation deals.

If this year’s pay settlement had matched inflation, starting pay for a newly qualified teacher in London, currently £25,000 a year, would be nearly £700 higher. Experienced teachers, on nearly £35,000 a year, would be earning an additional £800.

The union is also right to point out that public sector pay rises are lagging behind the private sector. According to Incomes Data Services, the median for private sector pay deals in April is likely to be somewhere between 3.5 and 4 per cent. This compares with just under 2.5 per cent for the public sector.

No wonder the NUT is angry.

It seems unthinkable, however, that in the absence of support from the other four teaching unions and from parents, the Government will agree to the union’s demand for a four per cent pay rise.

Parents want teachers to be paid properly. But many will only have just returned from their Easter break and may struggle to take more time off this week to make childcare arrangements for their children. To them the strike is an irritating inconvenience.

For those, in addition, whose children are in the midst of preparation for Key Stage, GCSE and A level examinations, it also seems disruptive and unprofessional.

But the real weakness in the NUT’s case lies in the lack of support from the other four teaching unions and the two head teachers’ unions, some of whom have reported a surge in recruitment in the last fews weeks from disaffected NUT members opposed to the strike. Without the other unions on board, this strike is pointless.

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