Education Secretary hopes teachers won't strike but insists their wages are relatively high already
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she hoped teachers in England would not take strike action and insisted their wages were relatively high.
Unions are balloting for strike action but Ms Keegan told LBC's Call the Cabinet: "What we've done recently is raise the starting salary, because we need to attract, obviously, graduates into teaching.
"So it's now £28,000 for somebody just starting straight from uni, and it will be £30,000 by 2024. That was a manifesto commitment. So, that's something that we've done and we're on the way to doing that."
She added: "The average salary of a classroom teacher is £39,000."
She said her cousin had just started teaching on £28,000 aged 23, although "she's still living with her mum and dad", Ms Keegan acknowledged.
"It's a good career, it's probably in the top 10% of earners in some parts of the country," Ms Keegan said.
The conversation comes amid a wave of national strikes across many industries with NHS nurses and ambulance staff being the latest to walk out in a row over pay.