STRIKING teachers say they are working 60-hour weeks that have eroded their work-life balance - as they join calls for the Government to increase school budgets.

Dozens of teachers who are members of the National Education Union in Barrow walked out today, in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

Gathering outside Barrow Town Hall, striking union members expressed their frustration at the issues facing schools.

Teachers who are members of the union are walking out nationally in the first of seven strikes planned across England and Wales.

They are demanding a better pay rise than the 5 per cent offered by the Department for Education and want something above the rate of inflation.

Kerry Ward, of Barrow St Pius X in Barrow, has been a teacher for 27 years, and said while increasing teachers' pay was important it was 'not the issue' in the minds of those striking.

She said: "The funding crisis is intolerable.

"We are not able to meet the needs of our students with the current funding that we've got."

The teacher said school staff were routinely having to work 60-hour weeks and were also struggling in the face of the rising cost of living, with some needing to use food banks.

Despite issues facing the sector, she said her school and headteacher was 'fantastic'.

Her colleague Tracie Roberts also described how the profession was struggling to recruit new teachers, with a massive drop-off in applications for some positions.

Cumbria NEU representative Andy Brwerton thanked the public for its support for those striking and described the issues facing teachers today. 

"We need fully-funded pay increases and a fully-funded education system. There's a real struggle to recruit and retain teachers."

Several schools in the area have closed fully or partially today amid disruption caused by the strikes.

But Barrow Labour councillor Bill McEwan said he was supportive of those striking.

Speaking as he visited the picket line, he added his voice to calls to increase funding for schools. 

He said: "We as councillors are 100 per cent behind them.

"This country is run by billionaires and the gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening."

Education secretary Gillian Keegan said today the country could not afford above-inflation pay awards.

“What is not realistic is for us to be looking at inflation or inflation-busting pay rises," she said.

"We cannot risk fuelling inflation with inflation-busting pay rises. We have to look after everybody in the economy,” she said.