MrsBethel - It's a bit much to ask private sector taxpayers to pay for their own pension, then dip their hand in their pocket again to pay for a much much much better pension for teachers
Except that all teachers already also pay into a pension plan - it's compulsory. So my parents, for example, paid into a plan all through my early years (7% of their salary, rising to nearer 12% later on). My Mum started paying this aged 21 and is still paying into it aged 66. As she quite rightly says, if the successive governments had done what she believed they were doing (ie investing the, by now substantial, amount of money she has paid in) there wouldn't be a big teacher pension deficit. It is a bit misleading to see it as entirely funded out of the public purse - teachers have had to pay a fair whack themselves.
It's also worth noting that someone like my grandad didn't pay into a provate pension plan during the 70s while my parents did. He could have done but his company didn't set one up so he didn't. He is now drawing a state pension. So he hasn't contributed - and I very much doubt he is the only one. I think folk like this have contributed to the pensions deficit far more than teachers who have had to contribute to their own plans all along. (I know it's all change now, because of the circumstances, but I think it's worth bearing in mind that teachers pensions have not been the drain on resources everybody seems to think).
I, on the other hand, work in the private sector. I pay in 5% of my salary to a pension plan. My company pays in 10%. Which, when you think about it, is no different to what teachers have been doing all along too - paying a chunk themselves and having some more contributed by their employer.
It really isn't quite as clear cut as saying 'the public pay for the teachers pensions because although yes, the public purse, as the employer, makes contributions, so do the teachers - quite substantial ones over the years (taking my folks as an example). It's not their fault if it hasn't been invested to provide a return.