One hundred and fifty primary, secondary and TAFE teachers from throughout the Southern Highlands gathered at the Moss Vale Services Club on Wednesday, joining 60,000 colleagues from around the State to watch a SKY Television broadcast about the new pay offer.

The teachers voted overwhelmingly in favour of the salary offer from the NSW Department of Education and Training of an average 4 per cent per annum pay rise for the next three years. President of the local union branch, the Southern Highlands Teachers' Association, Phil Roberts, said the results, which were mirrored across the State, were significant, not only for bringing teachers' pay to a level comparable to other professions, but for proving the current industrial relations system works.

"In terms of the present climate in IR ... this shows the system does work. It is representative and responsive for everyone," Mr Roberts said.

"This isn't just a win for teachers, everyone wins: public education wins and there's no disruption.

"It show that the current (IR) system is not broken, and that's the important message we want to get out of today."

Both Mr Roberts and Southern Highlands Teachers' Association secretary Bede Kervin said the Federal Government's proposed IR changes failed to explain how a system of thousands upon thousands of individual salary agreements was a simpler, more beneficial system than collective bargaining.

"How simple is it to have one award for teachers as opposed to 60,000 individual ones?" Mr Roberts asked.

"No one has answered how that's simpler," Mr Kervin said.

Bowral High head teacher of administration, Suzanne Jahnsen, who was at Wednesday's meeting, said even as an educated and informed woman the thought of negotiating an individual agreement for herself was daunting, impractical and unfair.