SCHOOLS look set to be hit by a one-day strike on Thursday next week as teachers stage a day of protest over cost-of-living allowances in London.
About 40,000 members of the National Union of Teachers voted in favour of the one-day stoppage on Tuesday.
The NUT had been seeking allowances to rise by a third but the government offered only a 3.5 per cent increase, worth an extra £105, effective from April 1.
NUT spokesman John Bangs said: "We worked out that this amounts to £1.65 a week and it is hopelessly inadequate."
Education Secretary Estelle Morris has condemned the NUT for striking and argued that the union's 'absolutely nonsensical' action risked harming children's education and damaging the profession's reputation.
The strike action comes at a time when headteachers are also threatening to boycott performance-related pay, which they claim is inadequately funded.
A ballot of the Secondary Heads Association and the National Association of Headteachers will take place next term unless the government arrives at a compromise.
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