Scotland's largest teaching union is calling for a 10% pay rise for primary and secondary school teachers.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said the double-digit rise is needed to bring their members' salaries to an "acceptable level".

Teaching pay is negotiated by unions, local authorities and the Scottish Government.

Such a rise would be well in excess of the devolved government's 3% increase for its own employees.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: "The Scottish Government has repeatedly said that education is its number one priority, and local authority representatives have also spoken of the importance of teachers in the delivery of high quality education.

"Our campaign will reflect this, in urging that the teachers who are central to the provision of education be properly valued and fairly paid for the vital work that they do.

"A good first step towards restoring teachers' pay to an acceptable level would be the delivery of a 10% pay increase for all teachers in 2018."

He added: "When increases to pension contributions and national insurance are factored in, Scotland's teachers have suffered a real-terms cut of almost 25% in their take-home pay.

"For the teachers who deliver the government's number one priority-the education of our young people-to be so severely undervalued is something that simply cannot continue.

"It is time for a fair pay rise for all of Scotland's teachers."

Councillor Gail Macgregor, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities resources spokeswoman,  said: "We have our first meeting on the pay deal for teachers in early February.

"We got the claim today which we will now take away and carefully consider - obviously taking full cognisance that, as employers, our pay awards have to be both sustainable and affordable."