I HAVE great sympathy for the striking teachers who only get, on average, a £34k salary, can retire at 60 with a taxpayer-boosted “golden” pension scheme, work, sometimes more than the 30 hours spent at school, have 13 weeks holiday and are almost impossible to sack.

Of course, unlike all other jobs, teaching is very stressful with only 20 per cent of school leavers being functionally literate and numerically nine-year-olds after 11 years at school.

My advice is to get out of teaching and get another job, but be prepared to work 45 hours per week until you are 67, have four to five weeks holiday a year, rely on the state pension (or pay for one) and live on £17k/18k per annum — it’s less stressful.

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