High-level talks have taken place about awarding a 1.5 per cent rise to teachers who are at the top of their pay scale (Scottish teachers set for early 1.5 per cent pay rise, News, September 10). Yippee! The fact is that the teaching profession in Scotland is in crisis. We have all known this for some considerable time. Teachers are expected to cope with very heavy workloads (often extending into home time), bad behaviour from pupils and parents, insufficient preparation time, syllabuses which change with the weather and administrative duties that are as mindless as they are pointless.

Teachers are a vital part of all our lives and culture, and deserve the status, respect and remuneration they once enjoyed. It is nothing short of an insult to think that this lamentable situation can be rectified by awarding some of them ''a 1.5 per cent rise to teachers who are at the top of their pay scale''. How many teachers have to leave the profession, and how ''high-level'' do the talks have to be before the Education Department does something substantive to alleviate the situation?

Let us not force our teachers to resort to the only weapon available to them – striking – in order to motivate us to demand a teaching profession of which we can all be proud.

Doug Clark

Midlothian