1. The strike is the latest in a series of industrial action organised by the NUT over an ongoing dispute with the Government.

2. The NUT says that teachers’ levels of workload are intolerable. The Government’s own survey, published last month, showed that primary school teachers work nearly 60 hours a week and secondary school teachers work nearly 56 hours a week.

3. Two in five teachers leave the professional in the first five years.

4. The NUT disagrees with performance related pay (PRP) which will be introduced in September and will result in increased salaries for teachers who raise pupils’ results.

5. The NUT does not believe that teachers can work to the age of 68 or even later for a full pension.

6. The Department for Education has said the NUT is disrupting parents’ lives and holding back children’s education by staging the strike.

7. The NUT is the largest teaching union and has 326,930 members in England and Wales.

8. Teachers who do strike will not be paid for today in accordance with nationally set legislation.

9. Teachers do not have to inform their headteacher of their intention to strike ahead of the day, meaning that many schools are unable to let parents know of closures in advance.

10. Schools are not allowed to reschedule events from a strike day, such as parents’ evenings.

11. On Tuesday, Michael Gove, secretary of state for education, wrote to seven union bosses setting out the progress he believes has been made in the ongoing talks between the Department for Education and these teaching unions.