“You work a long time in this job and put together what you think is a good package of skills and this is what happens.”

Approaching retirement, the teacher, who does not want to be named, is concerned about the impact on his pension and his mortgage. He said: “The Government wants us to introduce reforms like the literacy and numeracy strategies but it won’t pay us for it. You cannot separate curriculum work from admin - they go hand in hand.

“I felt a real sense of betrayal. The head has a difficult job but this is not the way to do it,” he said.