Classes disrupted as teachers stage strike
The strike is part of an ongoing row between the NUT and Mr Gove
Thousands of children in England and Wales face disruption to their education as teachers strike over pay, pensions and conditions.
Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) will take part in the action, leaving many schools closed to some or all pupils.
Union leaders said the national walkout was a "last resort" but would go ahead.
The Department for Education (DfE) said the NUT was disrupting parents' lives and holding back children's education.
The union said the strike action on Wednesday was covered by two ballots held in May 2011 and June 2012.
In total, 92% of members voted in favour of strike action, with a turnout of 40%. The NUT has 326,930 members in England and Wales.
Ongoing dispute
The NUT has been embroiled in its current dispute with the government for more than two years, and staged a series of regional strikes, together with the NASUWT teaching union, last year.
A proposed one-day national walkout in November by the two unions was called off in the wake of talks with the government and the NASUWT has decided not to take part in this latest round of strike action.
NUT deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney said: "Striking is our last resort.
"We have been trying to persuade [Education Secretary] Michael Gove to change his mind, he is unwilling. Michael Gove's policies are exhausting and demoralising teachers and that's very bad and disruptive for education.
"Thousands of good people are leaving the profession, we are building up to a teacher shortage and our children deserve energetic and enthusiastic teachers not demoralised and exhausted ones."
Mr Courtney said the union wanted Mr Gove to change his policies on school accountability, which the NUT said was leading to "enormous" workloads for teachers, performance-related pay and pensions.
Gove's letter
On Tuesday, Mr Gove wrote to seven union bosses, setting out the progress he believed had been made in an ongoing programme of talks between the DfE and these teaching unions.
In the letter, he said he wanted to underline his commitment to the talks process.
"I have been following the progress of the weekly talks closely and am encouraged by reports from the meetings so far," Mr Gove wrote.
"I hope you also feel that we are making good progress."
Condemning Wednesday's industrial action, a DfE official said: "Parents will struggle to understand why the NUT is pressing ahead with strikes over the government's measures to let heads pay good teachers more.
"They called for talks to avoid industrial action, we agreed to their request, and talks have been taking place weekly.
"Despite this constructive engagement with their concerns, the NUT is taking action that will disrupt parents' lives, hold back children's education and damage the reputation of the profession."
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