London's colleges faced minor disruption on Tuesday and Wednesday this week owing to strike action by college lecturers protesting over pay.

Members of the lecturers' union NATFHE were striking at 280 colleges in England and Wales in protest at what they said was an insulting 1.5 per cent pay offer from the Further Education (FE) college employers.

Action at the college in Forest Road was limited to six pickets at the gate representing the 120 union members who were on strike. Although most classes were cancelled, efforts were taken to ensure that students taking exams were not disrupted.

NATFHE's industrial action is aimed at closing the growing pay gap between college lecturers and school teachers. After five years in the job a schoolteacher will earn £25,746, whereas the maximum earnings of a lecturer after the same period is £21,374.

It is hoped that the action will bring pressure to bear on the Government, which is accused by NATFHE of underfunding every FE college in the country.

A union spokeswoman at Waltham Forest College said: "This is the first step in a rolling programme of action.

"At the end of the day, they [students] will get a better deal if they are taught by lecturers who are motivated and valued and if colleges can recruit and retain the quality staff they need."

The poor pay levels and demanding workloads are making it increasingly difficult for colleges to replace an ageing workforce and the hundreds of lecturers who are now leaving the system for better pay.

Paul Mackney, NAFTHE general secretary, said: "Lecturers are fed up, angry and voting with their feet. It is an insult to offer lecturers 1.5 per cent when the value of the schoolteachers' pay award is nearly five per cent."