Twenty thousand children across Oxfordshire had to stay at home today as teachers went on strike over pay for the first time in more than 20 years.

The strike shut 32 schools and closed lessons at 26 others as hundreds of teachers took to Oxford's streets to demonstrate against a 2.45 per cent pay offer.

It was the union's first national strike since 1987 and teachers warned they were prepared to walk out again if the Government did not increase its offer.

Across the country it was estimated the dispute closed or partially closed up to 9,500 schools, affecting almost three million children.

And more than 400,000 people were on strike, as civil servants walked out alongside teachers in another pay dispute.

Chris Blakey, president of the Oxfordshire branch of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Given the feeling today, I think people are showing signs they're unhappy and I think more action is likely.

"Everyone needs to go back into their workplaces and convince their workmates next time we have any action, we want to get everyone out. We want to show we are serious."

He said 50 per cent of newly-qualified teachers quit the profession after three years, due in part to poor pay.

He believed that if there were no further negotiations, another ballot for further industrial action could be held in June.

It is thought 600 of the NUT's 2,750 members in the county were on strike. More than 300 attended a rally at Oxford Town Hall and marched through the city centre, chanting and waving banners.

They were joined by members of the Public and Civil Servants Union and the Universities and Colleges Union.

Among those on strike were a number of teachers from Orchard Meadow Primary School, in Blackbird Leys.

Vicky Lees, 34, has been a teacher for 13 years. She said: "We can't afford to pay our bills and we can't afford to live. None of us liked striking and it's not something you do lightly, but at the end of the day we tried talking, we tried every other means we could and we need people to take us seriously. If I have to, I will strike again."

Her colleague Sam Blake, 31, who lives in Kidlington, said she was also prepared to strike again.

She said: "I do absolutely feel for the children who missed a day's school but I think it's the only way to get our voices heard."

Gavin Fisher, 35, a teacher at East Oxford Primary School, said he had thought "long and hard" before deciding to join the strike but was convinced it was the right course of action.

Church Cowley St James Primary School teacher Eleanor Watts said: "I hate striking, but I'm doing it for the children, who deserve good teachers who are motivated."

But the Government's Schools Secretary Ed Balls claimed the majority of teachers and parents did not back the strike.

He said: "The idea that lessons are being lost is very frustrating, and I'm sure I share that opinion with most teachers. There isn't a justification for the strike. Over the past 10 years, teachers' pay has risen substantially."

He added that the timing of the strike was "unfortunate" as many schools had only just come back from their holidays and many pupils are currently preparing for exams.

Of the NUT's threat to take further industrial action, Mr Balls said: "I don't think it's supported by most teachers."

  • Thousands of parents across the county had to take a day's holiday, work from home or rearrange their schedules to care for their children.

Theatre marketing manager Gill Jaggers had to rearrange her day after two of her three children's schools closed.

Ms Jaggers, of Cricket Road, spent most of the day working from home to look after Maria Marinari, 12, a pupil at Oxford Community School, and Leo Marinari, 10, who is at St Christopher's School, in Temple Cowley. But she had to leave them alone for about an hour while she attended a meeting.

She said: "I can understand why they're having a strike. But what's interesting is the fact that not every union feels the same."

Her husband, Salvatore Marinari, a teacher at Peers School, Littlemore, did not take part in strike action as he is a member of the NASUWT union.

Teacher and mother-of-two Daphne James, from Blackbird Leys, was at work at Oxford Community School as usual - meaning her husband Darren had to take their children, Reuel, eight, and Nailah, nine, to work with him.

She said: "I'm not a happy parent. My husband has had to change his working arrangements.

"It's very inconvenient. I'm trying to get my kids to school 100 per cent for their education, so why should an external factor stop me doing that?"

Euton Daley, of Crescent Road, Cowley, had to pay a childminder to take care of his youngest daughter, Akasha, after St Christopher's Primary School, in Temple Cowley, closed.

He said: "I totally support and understand their call for a pay rise, but the pressure it puts on parents and families means we have to make alternative arrangements. It is going to cost us and it is inconvenient."

Although the major employers in the county, including Unipart, Oxford University, Royal Mail, BMW and the NHS, said the strike did not have much of an effect on their workforce, Barry Wheatley, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Strikes like these always have a profound impact on small businesses."

  • Hundreds of civil servants who are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union were also on strike today.

Kate Douglas, joint branch secretary for PCS Oxfordshire, works at the Job Centre in Oxford.

She said the union was striking alongside the NUT to fight a three-year pay deal imposed by the Government.

She said: "We would like the Treasury to agree to talks and give us at least an equal-to-inflation pay deal."

  • Lecturers at Oxford's further education college joined the pay strike.

Up to 70 members of the Universities and Colleges Union at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College picketed the Oxpens and Blackbird Leys campuses. It is thought most of the union's 150 members supported the strike.

Alan Whitaker, who teaches in the skills for life department and is a member of the union's national executive, said: "We're witnessing pay cuts on a yearly basis and we are fed up with it.

"I'm prepared to strike again. I think we will have to."

He said FE lecturers' pay was on average six per cent less than that of school teachers.