The new offer announced on Tuesday evening involved teachers who earn up to £80,000 given 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 was rejected at a special meeting of the EIS Salaries Committee on Wednesday, with the union confirming its programme of strikes will continue “until a more credible offer is put on the negotiating table”.

The Education Secretary failed to make a pay offer in “disappointing” talks, union bosses have said – with strikes set to go ahead.

The EIS teaching union has rejected the latest pay offer from the Scottish Government and council leaders.

The EIS last night tweeted their anger after details of the offer were made public before they had been presented.

Andrea Bradley, general secretary of the EIS union, has called the pay offer a “baby step” rather than a “significant improvement”.

Commenting this afternoon, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said: “This is another inadequate offer to Scotland’s teachers, which was unanimously rejected by the EIS Salaries Committee earlier today.

“The 6 per cent value of the offer for 2022-23 is insufficient, with CPI inflation currently sitting today at 10.5 per cent.

" The 6% offer for this year is only 1 per cent less of a pay cut than that previously offered, twice, by the Scottish Government and COSLA. Teachers have already lost more than 1 per cent of their salaries through being forced into strike action so, essentially, teachers already more than paid for this revised offer themselves. This is just yet more smoke and mirrors from the Scottish Government and COSLA in attempting to make this offer appear more generous than it actually is.”

She added: “The suggested year two component of 5.5 per cent hasn’t been negotiated via the appropriate forum, the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), at all. Indeed, teaching unions haven’t even submitted our pay claim for 2023/24 yet, as a consequence of the current dispute. In attempting to tag on next year’s pay settlement, without any negotiation at all, the Scottish Government and COSLA are attempting to tie the hands not just of teacher trade unions but all public sector unions – and this is unacceptable to the EIS.

“The conduct of the Scottish Government and COSLA in this process has been equally unacceptable.

"From dragging the process out interminably, to seeking to create divisions both between different grades of teachers and different groups of workers, to seeking to bypass the agreed negotiating processes and sharing information on pay offers with the media before sharing them with the trade unions representing teachers – these have not been good-faith actions. Their emphasis throughout has been on spin rather than genuine attempts to reach an agreed pay settlement through proper negotiation.

"As a result of the clear decision to reject this offer, taken by our Salaries Committee today, our Executive Committee has also unanimously agreed that the current programme of strike action will continue as scheduled. The EIS remains, as ever, willing and available to engage in further discussions with both the Scottish Government and COSLA.”

Scotland teacher strikes: EIS rejects latest pay offer