Around 300 teachers in the region joined the strike and rallied at Towac Park

The strike comes after significant shortages have left teachers continually working overtime without compensation and union relieving regional organiser Stephen Kelly said they had to take a stand.

A shortage of casual teachers is also impacting schools and Mr Kelly said the industry is struggling to retain new staff members due to the workload.

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"There are casual shortages at most places and when people are sick or need to go off and do professional development it's very difficult to get casual teachers to replace them," he said.

"That means that on a day-to-day basis a lot of teachers are having to cover for their colleagues.

"They're having to give up their preparation time to cover for other people and it really is making the workload untenable for teachers."

Another issue of concern for teachers is their salaries.

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According to the evidence produced in the NSW Teachers Federation Gallop Report, teachers' salaries are no longer competitive with other professions.

"The government really needs to step up urgently and do more to attract people in the profession and staff our schools properly," Mr Kelly said.

Around 250 to 300 teachers from around the Central West region rallied at Towac Park in Orange hoping to be heard.

Mr Kelly said it was a good turn out.

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"It was a really successful rally," he said.

"We had quite a number of schools not in operation because everyone was on strike so there's strong support in the local area for our action and we really need the government to step up and take this seriously."

In addition to looking at salaries, Mr Kelly said they're asking for a reduction of face-to-face teaching time for primary and secondary teachers.

This will allow them to better prepare and collaborate to produce the best content for students.

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