Organised by the Independent Education Union of Australia (IEU), Wagga's rally saw teachers and support staff representing the seven local and 21 total catholic diocesan schools partaking in the full-day stop.

Today marked the first full-day stoppage since 2004, with demands of a 10-15 per cent wage increase over two years, pay parity with the public sector for support staff, less paperwork and more class planning time.

The wage increase demand surpasses the 5 - 7.5 per cent increase requested by the NSW Teachers Federation, who voted to strike across the state on May 4.

IEU Riverina subbranch president and local secondary teacher Kel Woodhouse said the pandemic cannot be solely blamed for the problems facing catholic school teachers across the state.

"COVID has amplified the startling issues that we already had," he said.

"We have an ageing workforce and ever increasing enrolments - we just don't have the accredited, qualified teachers to replace those that are exiting the profession."

According to Mr Woodhouse, students are not getting the learning they should as a result.

"We're having to put teachers in front of classes that are not necessarily accredited in that area, we're having to collapse classes, put some classes on minimal supervision," he said.

"As a parent, it's about making sure that children are getting the education they deserve.

"We're not striking because we want to, we're striking because we have no choice."

Despite taking part in today's protected industrial action and marching to the Catholic Education, Diocese of Wagga office, many local teachers present were unwilling to disclose their identities when discussing stresses of their current work environments.

A local teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said teachers partaking in the strike want the onus of blame on the broader system, not the schools who employ them.

They also said that many teachers are bound by an employee code of conduct that prohibits them from speaking to the media.

"We love working where we work, we're just worried about the future," they said.

"[Schools are] going to great lengths to try and improve things, but they're bound by everyone else in the state."

A different local secondary teacher asked to remain anonymous to avoid difficulties with future employment, rather than out of fear of losing their current position.

The teacher, whose child attends a local catholic school, said there is plenty of behind the scenes work most people don't consider.

"I think there's a perception of teachers that we don't do much and we get a lot of holidays," they said.

"But it's draining and there's too much behind the scenes, too much paperwork, too much following up on things and not enough just teaching.

"We're all tired, we're all ready to be heard."

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In what they described as irony, the same teacher said many local teachers were simply relieved to use today's strike as a chance to work on student reports and other admin.

Another local secondary teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said today's strike had been a long time coming, with covering of classes and lessons occurring "on a daily basis" at their school.

"It's just been an ongoing battle for the last two years and we've seen no real change and no real willingness to think about change from both catholic education and state government," they said.

"A lot of the focus has come off teaching and learning, in terms of just getting the school running on a daily basis.

"We want the future generations of students looked after."

In a statement response to today's strike action, Catholic Education supported a meaningful pay increase for teachers but expressed disappointment in the decision to call a full day work stop.

Catholic Education have agreed to match the pay increases awarded to public school teachers but said any costs, including wages, met outside of government funding must be funded by parent fees.

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