A striking teaching union has said that action was taken today in response to teachers being "short-changed" for over a decade.

Today (Wednesday) was the first day of industrial action for members of the National Education Union Cymru (NEU) and NAHT, which represents school leaders.

Thousands of members of the National Education Union (NEU) took strike action today over pay and school budgets.

The Welsh Government has said it will continue with "constructive" meetings with unions to try and resolve the dispute.

Commenting on today’s strike by National Education Union members in Wales, David Evans, Wales Secretary of the National Education Union Cymru, said:

"Today, teachers and support staff in Wales' schools, took strike action in pursuit of a fully-funded, above inflation pay rise. They have been short-changed for over a decade, with significant real-terms cuts to pay and unfunded rises which schools cannot afford to find from their own budgets.

"The legacy is all too clear, with schools having to cut services to the bone as years of Westminster austerity hit hard, and a recruitment and retention crisis that is a detriment to children's education every single day. One day's disruption through strike action is dwarfed by the long-term damage caused by policy on education funding, on workload, and on pay."

Strike action is scheduled to take place on three more dates inside the next seven weeks - Tuesday, February 14, Wednesday, March 15 and Thursday, March 16.

Mr Evans said that the majority of schools were affected in Wales today, with up to a third closed, but added that this was "no cause for celebration."

"[This is] an indication of the level of anger amongst our members," he said. "It is a huge statement from a determined membership who smashed through the UK Government's strike threshold that were only ever designed to prevent strike action happening at all."

Mr Evans added: "NEU members do not want to go on strike again. But as the Education Minister knows, they will walk out again on the 14th of February. We need urgency in discussions, so that our members can get back to doing what they do best, working with pupils in the classroom.

"However, we know that our members will do whatever it takes to stand up for education, including further strike action."