UNION officials have reacted angrily to the news that due to shortages of new teachers entering the profession, the search has moved overseas.

It follows an announcement from the Government yesterday that the number of teachers they planned to recruit had been missed, for the third year running.

As a result, some agencies now have to look as far afield as Canada and Australia for new recruits to meet demand.

The National Union Of Teachers believes the shortages support their belief that conditions in the classroom have made teaching an unattractive profession, with many in the trade considering leaving.

Andy Woolley, the south west regional secretary of the NUT, the largest teachers’ union, said: “For the third year running teacher recruitment figures have not been met and there are reports of headteachers needing to recruit from abroad.

“This is a very clear indication of exactly how unattractive the profession has become when the UK is still in recession and graduate jobs are hard to find.

“Workloads of 60 hours a week, a punitive inspection system, giving rise to numerous, often pointless, accountability tasks and a total lack of trust in teachers has left the profession demoralised and exhausted, with many leaving or planning to leave.

“It’s hardly a system to inspire the confidence of parents, children and society.”

Earlier this year the NUT carried out a survey of its members, which they say showed that 90 per cent of teachers had thought about leaving in the last two years while 87 per cent knew someone who had left because of the demands.

The union has laid the blame with the Government.

Andy said: “The teaching profession has been thoroughly undermined by the Coalition Government.

“This is a sorry state of affairs and is not the way one of the richest countries in the world should be running their education system.

“The Government’s workload challenge survey brought about by pressure from the NUT must now give rise to wholesale change for the better on teacher workload if we are not to see the already pressing issue of teacher recruitment turn into a crisis.”

A Department Of Education spokesman said: “We want the best and brightest teachers in our schools.

“That’s why we are offering increased bursaries worth £25,000 tax free to top graduates training in priority subjects, including physics, maths and languages and prestigious scholarships to trainees in maths, physics, chemistry, and computing.”