The New South Wales Teachers Federation and the Independent Education Union have separately taken strike action this year but joined forces this morning to march from Wagga's Civic Theatre, through Baylis Street to Bolton Park Sports Centre.

New South Wales Teachers Federation country organiser and Bankstown-based teacher Jack O'Brien said today's joining of the two groups showed meaningful solidarity.

"It's the first time since 1996 that the Catholic sector and the public sector have taken a joint industrial action," he said.

"And we're coming together today because the government is refusing to address the staffing shortage that we have in schools.

"Everyday, students are missing out in classrooms, classes have been collapsed and teachers are starting to burn out."

The NSW Teachers Federation described the state government's 3 per cent wage cap increase put forward in the most recent budget as an "insult", wanting a pay rise that at least matches current inflation levels.

Despite some differences between claims from the two teacher groups, Mr O'Brien said they share similar struggles.

"What we both have in common is that teachers are chronically overworked, which is contributing to experienced teachers leaving the profession," he said.

"And [for] our newer, beginning teachers, the attrition rate is huge."

Wagga Teachers Association representative and local relieving principal Kristil-Rae Mobbs said she felt the pressures of teacher shortages every day.

"In the last week alone, I have had so many classes that I've had to split," she said.

"I'm at the moment looking to replace a teacher who's taken another opportunity, and I have no teachers to choose from.

"If you had a six month position come up, you used to have a range of teachers that you could choose from but they're just not coming into the profession and they're not seeing that the salary is comparative to other professions."

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Wagga Teachers Asssociation president Michelle McKelvie said teachers covering classes they have no expertise in is an ongoing detriment of staff shortages.

"Before you take into account leave, you've got people doing extra classes in different subjects just so that there's a teacher in front of the students," she said.

"Obviously, that has an impact on all students because that English teacher who's teaching a maths class is doing that instead of preparing for their English classes.

"And they don't have that expertise to offer those math students."

Travelling across from Gundagai to join today's strike, second year teacher Josh Cheney said he was already feeling the effects of teacher shortages at Gundagai Public School.

"We struggle to get casual teachers, we've got staff who don't want to have a sick day because their class will be split or left with minimal supervision," he said.

"We're worried for the future ... so, we're going to continue to strike until we see some action by the government."

With 20 years of teaching experience, fellow Gundagai Public School educator Wendy Carpenter also travelled to Wagga to express her frustration with teacher workloads.

"The workload, the amount of admin that we have to now do and the compliance is just ridiculous," she said.

"A small country town like Gundagai is like most of the country towns around here, we're affected because we can't get the staff.

"But it's not just us, it's everywhere."

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