TEACHERS have hit out at comments from a top official that their action in a pay dispute is harming children's education.
Education Authority (EA) chief executive Gavin Boyd wrote to teachers pointing out they received better pay than classroom staff in Wales and England.
All main teaching unions are angry, having rejected a pay offer that would see staff receive no across the board pay rise for 2015/16, and a 1 per cent cost of living uplift for 2016/17.
Two unions - the INTO and NASUWT - have staged walkouts while other unions are involved in action short of strike. This includes refusing to cooperate with inspections.
Mr Boyd has now written to staff pointing out that the average teacher's pay in Northern Ireland is just more than £40,000 a year.
He said this compared "very favourably with other graduate professions locally and is actually higher than the average teacher's pay in England and Wales". He added that the north's unions had rejected an overall offer of 2.5 per cent on pay in 2015/16.
"We are very concerned that the ongoing industrial action is seriously affecting the education of children, the effective operation of school and morale or teachers," he wrote.
"We know that teachers, who are dedicated to developing their pupils, do not want to be in a situation where children are clearly being disadvantaged."
He added: "There have been no reductions in teacher's pay."
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said the letter would simply infuriate teachers "who are continuing to endure the painful reality of real terms cuts to pay, job insecurity and excessive workload".
"Mr Boyd's letter to teachers and principals cannot hide the facts of the destructive impact of excessive workload on teachers' lives or that the value of teachers' pay has fallen by around 20 per cent since 2010," she said.
"The employers should start to devote more of their time to addressing the genuine concerns of teachers."
Justin McCamphill, NASUWT National Official Northern Ireland, added that the letter would do nothing to resolve the concerns of teachers.
Stephen McCord, a past president of the Ulster Teachers' Union said Mr Boyd's comments were "insensitive, indignant" and had angered teachers.
