Scotland's first national schools strike since the 1980s sees a walk out by teachers today.

Pupils at nearly every primary and secondary school and many council nurseries will be affected by the industrial action over pay.

A revised pay offer on Tuesday was rejected as "insulting" by unions.

But Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said their demands for a 10% pay rise were "unaffordable".

A new pay offer from employer Cosla - which would have seen rises of up to 6.85% for the lowest paid - was fair, Ms Somerville said.

The Scottish school strikes - by members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and the Association of Head Teachers and Deputes Scotland - come amid widespread industrial action across the UK on Thursday.

University strikes

Strikes will begin at 150 universities as workers from the University and College Union protest about pay, working conditions and pension cuts.

Royal Mail staff will also return to picket lines for 10 more strike days at the postal service's busiest time of the year, after talks on pay, jobs and conditions ended without agreement.

The BBC says that, during the last national strike by teachers in Scotland in the mid-1980s, it was rare for schools to close completely.

Students could still attend lessons with teachers who were members of other unions.

However, the EIS now represents about 80% of the country's teachers and its actions will close almost all primary, secondary and additional support needs schools.

Only a handful of primary schools in Orkney and Shetland will remain open.

Also affected

Many early years learning centres and nurseries are also affected.

Teachers will be on picket lines outside schools this morning and at rallies in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness, and outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh during the afternoon.

EIS has warned further strikes in December could not be ruled out.

And it said primary teachers planned to strike on January 10 and secondary teachers the following day, with further industrial action in February.

The Scottish Secondary Teachers Association and teachers' union NASUWT plan to strike on December 7 and 8, leading to closures of some schools and disrupted timetables in others.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said they had been "forced into this strike" after months of talks with Cosla, the councils' umbrella body, and the Scottish Government.

'Sub-standard' offers

"They have offered a series of sub-standard offers that fall far below the rate of inflation and far short of the justifiable expectations of Scotland's hard-working teaching professionals," she said.

Teachers had reacted with "great anger" to the latest offer from Cosla, Ms Bradley added.

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