"I'm very sad to be going on strike. We should be able to campaign without this, but we feel that we've been ignored."

So says Mike Wilkinson, one of the thousands of further education lecturers taking part in a one-day protest strike over pay.

A lecturer at Sussex Downs College, which has a number of campuses across East Sussex, he says that the strike reflects the "desperation" of lecturers.

And he hopes the strike will draw attention to part of the education sector that feels neglected and underfunded.

"There is a real feeling of injustice," says Dr Wilkinson. While the government has recognised the need to improve pay for teachers, he believes that further education has missed out.

Despite appeals and lobbying over several years, Dr Wilkinson says that lecturers' pay is still unacceptably low.

He protests that lecturers are starting on �14,000 and after 15 years might only reach �22,000.

Lecturer shortage

The increases in teachers' pay now means that schools are able to pay much more than colleges - and he maintains that this is contributing to a serious staff shortage.

When he became a lecturer in 1972, Dr Wilkinson recalls how there were a hundred applicants for a single post.

Now the college might only receive two or three applications for a lecturer's post.

"It's disillusioning that there are so few younger people coming in," he says.

The decline in pay is also hitting the type of courses colleges can offer.

For instance, he points out that vocational courses, such as training plumbers or builders, are struggling in many further education colleges because they cannot afford the staff.

Lecturers are also aggrieved that their academic achievements are not being recognised - and in East Sussex, Dr Wilkinson highlights that the A-level pass rate in Lewes Sixth Form Centre was over 96%.

Dr Wilkinson is the branch chair for the lecturers' union, Natfhe, and he says that if there is no positive response from government, there will be further strikes.

The union is seeking parity with school teachers by 2004.