No offer on the table as teachers announced new June strike plans

"It's heartbreaking when I have students that say to me 'I feel like no one cares about me'."

As teachers strike, a college teacher told The Canberra Times their students could feel the lack of resourcing and support in their classrooms.

ACT public school staff went on strike for two hours on Friday May 22, fighting for more teachers and resources in schools. Schools were closed until 10.30am.

The Australian Education Union said it planned to strike again on June 11, this time for a full day because after 11 months of bargaining, the government had not presented an offer.

Teachers and education staff express their frustration with lack of resources at ACT public schools at staff strike on May 22. Picture by Karleen Minney

The education directorate has labelled the bargaining as "complex" but union president Angela Burroughs said this was the first time the union had heard this complaint.

"It's a different excuse every time," Ms Burroughs said.

Hundreds of teachers attended a stop work action meeting at the Ainslie Football Club.

A college teacher said she had been "begging the directorate" for more support including having a learning support assistant in their classroom.

ACT teachers take strike action (at Ainslie football club) to to address working conditions and salary demands. Pictures by Karleen Minney

"We've only just gotten one and the weight it's taken off me, my students have been doing amazing work," she said.

"It makes me sad, they could have gotten it sooner, they could have learned more, they could have progressed even further."

"It feels like the government doesn't give a damn about public education."

Another youth worker who is in charge of helping 600 students at a Canberra high school said they rarely left their office because students were coming to them and seeking out support daily.

The youth worker said a key part of their job was working with the school executive team, but most of them had been stretched thin, working as relief teachers to help fill staffing gaps at the start of the year.

Union president, Ms Burroughs said the union wanted the government to "do their homework", settle the claims and bring an offer to the table.

Education director-general Jo Woods said the directorate was working through the log of claims but some of the items were "complex".

She said some of the claims needed to be dealt with in the whole of government agreement while others were specific to education.

The directorate and union meet weekly, but this week the meeting was cancelled.

The union said cancelled meetings had happened more than once.