The government has insisted that the pension deal offered to teachers is "as good as it gets" as thousands of teachers and lecturers prepare to stage a 24-hour stirke on Wednesday.
The action by members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and University and College Union (UCU) in London will close colleges, universities and schools across the capital in the continuing bitter dispute over the government's controversial public-sector pension reforms.
Meanwhile, health workers and other public-sector staff across the country will stage protests and demonstrations amid continued opposition to the planned pension changes.
The Education Department said it expected a "significant" number of schools in London to be affected, although not as many as during strikes last June and November.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "Strikes benefit no one. This deal is as good as it gets and takes the right balance - guaranteeing teachers one the best pensions available but keeping a lid on rising costs for the taxpayer.
"We've been in serious talks for months with unions to address their concerns and reach a final settlement. This strike, ordered by the NUT's leaders, will not now get its members any further forward.
"Reforms to public sector pensions are essential - the status quo is not an option. The cost to the taxpayer of teacher pensions is already forecast to double from £5billion in 2006 to £10billion in 2016 and will carry on rising rapidly as life expectancy continues to rocket."
The action follows last year's strike by more than one and a half million public-sector workers, with most unions continuing to refuse to sign up to new pension arrangements.
Union officials said public-sector employees remained opposed to government plans to make them pay more and work longer for their pensions and get less in retirement, the Press Association reported.
The first stage of an increase in pension contributions for teachers, lecturers and other public-sector employees comes into force next week.
UCU and NUT members will march through central London and will hold a rally outside the headquarters of the Education Department in Westminster.
UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: "UCU members are unlikely militants and would much rather be doing their jobs then taking strike action and losing a day's pay.
"However, it is not fair for ordinary people to suffer huge cuts in their standards of living at a time when the Government is handing out huge tax give-aways to big business and high earners."
NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: "Teachers cannot be expected to do anything other than defend the right to a pension which they have paid into in good faith, especially as the government has shown no evidence that their pensions are either unsustainable or unaffordable.
"No teacher wants to be in this position. Pension increases are just an extra tax on teachers, when the top rate of tax is being cut. It is the government's intransigence and total disregard of the facts that has forced teachers to continue with this action."
Unite said thousands of its NHS members who have rejected the pension changes will stage demonstrations outside hundreds of hospitals and clinics across the UK as part of a campaign set to continue into the summer.
General secretary Len McCluskey said: "Public-sector employees are experiencing multiple cuts to their take-home pay - pay freezes set against a backcloth of high inflation, paying more for pensions, large-scale downgrading of staff, with regional pay looming as employers seek more cunning ways of cutting pay, including introducing performance-related pay.
"Hard-working public-sector employees are fed-up with taking the pain and being used as a financial punchbag for a failed economic policy, which last's week's Budget proved once-and-for all favours the rich at the expense of working people."
Unite's members in the Ministry of Defence and other government departments are currently voting on the pension changes, with a recommendation to reject.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union are being urged to support the strike in London, said general secretary Mark Serwotka, adding: "We are looking to co-ordinate further national action with NUT and UCU in late April and so it is important for us to show our full support.
"We want to continue the fight against these unfair and unnecessary cuts to people's livelihoods, and we believe that together we can win."