Today (March 26th) sees thousands of people in teaching jobs in London and the south east leave the classroom and take to the picket line in a row over pay, pensions and working conditions.

The strike has been organised by the National Union of Teachers (NUT), leaders of which say the industrial action is a last resort to get the government to listen to their concerns.

In total, 92 per cent of members voted for strike action in ballots with a turnout of 40 per cent. More than 325,000 teachers are members of the NUT in England and Wales.

General secretary Christine Blower said the government needs to offer a "change of policy".

She explained: "Certainly the message we are getting is that the action is well-supported. On the back of the 60-hour week workload diary survey teachers are just feeling overwhelmed."

NUT deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney added the union has been trying to persuade Michael Gove to soften his stance on his "exhausting and demoralising" policies, which the majority of teachers think is disruptive for education in this country.

He said: "Thousands of good people are leaving the profession, we are building up to a teacher shortage and our children deserve energetic and enthusiastic teachers not demoralised and exhausted ones."

Before the strike, Mr Gove wrote to seven union bosses in an attempt to highlight the progress he believed has already been made between the Department for Education (DfE) and the profession, underlining his commitment to further talks. 

A DfE official said parents will struggle to understand why the NUT is striking when the government has put plans in place that will allow heads to pay good teachers more.

As somebody who has experience in a teaching role, do you think the DfE is being disingenuous with its description of the performance-related pay scheme? What about working conditions? Is the NUT right to strike?

Tell us if you back its stance.