The NUT has announced that its members will be striking next month, alongside support staff and local-government workers.

Teachers in England and Wales will take action on 10 July, at the same time as members of Unison, GMB and Unite unions, which represent school support staff.

Christine Blower, NUT general secretary, said that her members were reacting to the fact that the government and the education secretary “are refusing point-blank to accept the damage their reforms are doing to the teaching profession.”

She said that the introduction of performance-related pay for teachers, the postponement of teachers’ retiring age to 68, and a 60-hour weekly workload were unacceptable.

“The consequences of turning teaching into a totally unattractive career choice will most certainly lead to teacher shortages,” she said. “Teaching is one of the best jobs in the world, but is being made one of the worst.”

The other three unions, meanwhile, were unhappy with the one per cent pay rise that the government offered its members.

At its annual conference over the Easter weekend, the NUT had agreed to take strike action in the week beginning 23 June. However, last month the union decided to postpone the strike, in order to allow time to see if any headway was made during talks with the government.  

At the time, the union stated that it would be prepared to go ahead with a strike in July, if members were not happy with the way these talks were progressing.