Call it what you like - a sick-in or a strike - but last Friday's closure of four schools showed teachers are prepared to take industrial action over their stalled pay negotiations.

As a result, the dispute has been referred to mediation by Government's Labour Relations Department where it is to be hoped an agreement can be reached without further disruption to the Island's schools.

It is impossible not to have some sympathy for teachers who face long hours of teaching both in the classroom and outside.

In theory, that is all they should be doing, but they must also take the role of surrogate parents and disciplinarians as they try to make up for the community's failures with its children.

What is also true is that teachers have historically been under-paid and under-appreciated and, as Bermuda Union of Teachers president Michael Charles said recently, all the accolades and praise they do receive are worth little if they are not backed up by tangible benefits like decent pay.

Having said that, the approach of the BUT to these talks has been less than constructive; teachers have refused to take part in the new education strategy until the pay talks are resolved while Friday's sit-in deprived students at four schools of a day's education at the same time that it inconvenienced parents and others. These tactics hardly build sympathy for the teachers' cause.

The union denies that it is seeking a ten percent pay increase, as reported by The Royal Gazette while Government apparently offered three percent as the negotiations began in earnest.

That demonstrates that there is a wide gulf between teachers and the Ministry of Education.

But teachers should remember two things. One is that Bermuda's economy, and by extension, Government's finances, are weak and many people, especially in the private sector, have had to tighten their belts.

The second is that teachers have been the beneficiaries of a number of significant pay increases, well above the rate of inflation, in the last decade.

That these increases were justified is unquestioned. Teachers have historically been underpaid and these rises were needed both to reward and retain teachers already in the system and to encourage young people to join the profession.

But that does not mean that this is the year for a further high increase.

Instead teachers should consider keeping their powder dry until the economy improves while proving that they are equal partners with the Ministry, parents and employers in improving the system.

Confidence in public education remains low. Wildcat strikes and refusal to participate in approaches for improving the system will do nothing to improve it.

But teachers seeking better qualifications and teachers actively promoting and adopting best practices for education will improve confidence, and in turn should be rewarded in the future.

Perhaps instead of seeking pay increases above the rate of inflation, teachers should push for additional money for teachers seeking qualifications, better training and improved communication between the Ministry and the schools.

Teachers have a a major part to play in restoring confidence, which if it continues to decline, will see more of the best students leave the system. That will benefit no one and will make the teachers' jobs even harder in the future.