A REVISED pay offer for teachers has been put to unions following news of increased and targeted strike action in six districts across Scotland.

If plans go ahead, Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Dunfermline, would see children in her constituency facing an additional six lost school days compared to their counterparts in other areas.

READ MORE: Dunfermline pupils will miss out on more school days due to targeted strikes

The new proposal tabled by Holyrood would grant teachers who earn up to £80,000 a 6 per cent pay boost backdated to April 2022 and a further 5.5 per cent from the start of the 2023 financial year, representing 11.5 per cent over two years.

It is the fifth deal offered to unions and would mean an overall increase of £5,000 over two years for the 70 per cent of classroom teachers who are at the top of their main grade pay scale.

The Scottish Government has secured £156 million of additional funding to make the offer possible, on top of £50 million already provided to local authorities.

If accepted, it will see probationers earn a £31,439 salary, rising to £37,719 in their first qualified year, Ms Somerville said: "Teachers make an invaluable contribution to the lives of our children and young people. This significant offer, if accepted by unions, would see teacher pay increase by almost 30 per cent since January 2018.

"While union demands for an in-year 10 per cent increase are unaffordable within the Scottish Government’s fixed budget, we have looked for compromise and we have arrived at a deal that is fair, affordable, and sustainable for everyone involved."

READ MORE: Striking teachers reveal true story of life inside West Fife's classrooms

Teachers at the top of the main grade pay scale would see an their annual rise from £42,336 on January 1,2022, to £47,344 on April 1 this year, while, for those earning more than £80,000, there will be a flat cap increase This means that those on the top salary point will receive an increase of 9.2 per cent in the same time period, taking their earnings to around £108,809.

"The offer is being made at a time of extraordinary financial pressure on the Scottish Government budget," Ms Somerville continued.

"Difficult decisions will have to be made to free up the required resources."

She called for unions to suspend any planned industrial action to minimise disruption to learning in advance of the upcoming SQA exam diet.

The general secretary of Scotland’s largest teaching union the EIS has called the move a "baby step" rather than a “significant improvement”.

Andrea Bradley told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Wednesday: "I would say what’s been put through the media and subsequently put on the table for negotiation later this week amounts to a tiny baby step in the right direction rather than a significant improvement.”

She went on to say that her union and others will look seriously at the offer, but added that it would still amount to a real-terms pay cut over the next two years.

Members were to evaluate the offer during a 10am meeting today (Wednesday).

The EIS union has earmarked February 28 and March 1 for two days of national strike action as well as a further 20 days of rolling strikes across local authorities from March 13 until April 21.

They had also planned to target the constituencies of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minster John Swinney, Education Secretary Ms Somerville, and Cosla resources spokeswoman Katie Hagmann.

But Ms Bradley could not confirm if the strike action will be suspended and told Good Morning Scotland that the union’s executive committee will make a decision after the salary committee has looked at the pay offer.

READ MORE: Schools shut in West Fife as January strike action takes place in pay dispute

Following the announcement that Dunfermline pupils were to lose out on additional days of education, Cllr James Calder, the convener of the City of Dunfermline Area Committee, and Cllr Aude Boubaker-Calder, Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, wrote to Ms Somerville to demand a solution.

Cllr Calder said: "Dunfermline pupils are being let down because the Scottish Government's strategy has been to hope the strikes go away. They aren't going away and families affected are rightly furious that our own MSP is causing strikes in her own backyard. We need action now and we will keep up the pressure on this matter."

Cllr Boubaker-Calder added: "The Scottish Government have been burying their heads in the sand over teacher strikes.

"This is a complete dereliction of duty. Now Dunfermline pupils face disruption to their education over and above what they have already had as a result of our own Dunfermline MSP’s failure to properly engage with the unions on this matter.

"We have written to her to demand action in resolving this now."