Teachers have been joining picket lines around West Lothian as schools shut due to strikes.
Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) walked out today over pay and conditions for the first time in almost 40 years.
A last-ditch offer made on Tuesday failed to avert industrial action.
It would see the lowest paid staff receive a 6.85 per cent increase, with most getting a 5 per cent rise - the EIS wants 10 per cent.
Physics teacher Heather Hughes, who is local association secretary for the EIS West Lothian Local Association, said: “We’ve had a great turn out on the picket lines and massive support from the public and really strong solidarity from the public.
“Our pay has decreased by 25 per cent since 2008, we’re an all-graduate profession, we’re highly trained and highly skilled and we have highly transferrable skills as well.
“We want to be paid as professionals, we were gutted at the contempt the last pay offer showed us.”
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: "We had assurances last week from Scottish Government and Cosla colleagues that they were doing their utmost to find new money. They simply have not done that.
"To us it looks like they simply have not tried hard enough."
The EIS has already announced further strike action on January 10 and 11, and Bradley warned it is "now inevitable that further dates will be announced".
She said: "We will certainly be looking at strikes throughout the months of January and February, and it really depends what happens at the negotiating table as to whether they can be averted and further action beyond that."
Teachers who are members of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA) will walk on December 8.
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