Schools in the UK have been suffering from a perceived shortfall in the number of teachers for some time now, with campaigners reporting time and again that the government is failing to deliver on its targets for teacher recruitment in each of the last three years. 

But is the shortfall less to do with a lack of recruitment and more about the fact that high numbers of educators are being lured into teaching jobs overseas? According to the schools examiner Ofsted, this is the case. 

It said that high numbers of British teachers are being offered lucrative packages in terms of lifestyle and salaries that means they feel comfortable choosing to teach overseas. 

Not only does this leave a problem with regards to a shortfall in the required number of teachers in classrooms, it also presents another issue because of the fact money spent training teachers in this country is being wasted with the skills being used in other nations rather than at home. 

Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw says there is an issue with teachers being lured to other nations that is created by the fact there are more high quality schools opening overseas branches and looking for British teachers to bring their skills to the new classrooms. 

In total, he said, 18,000 people left the UK last year to teach in other countries. Surprisingly, this was a higher number than were trained in the UK in the same period. With only 17,000 graduates being trained in teaching in the same period, there was a drop of 1,000 teachers thanks to migration. 

So what causes teachers to leave the UK? According to Sir Michael, there are a number of benefits they see to moving to other nations, including competitive, usually tax-free salaries, free accommodation and often the prospect of working in warmer, sunnier climes".

"Shouldn't we also ask the question: at what cost to our own state education system?" he asked.

"Are we in danger of overlooking one of the consequences of this expansion - a teacher 'brain drain' from this country just when the supply issue is reaching situation critical? 

"At a time of well-documented shortages, should we not be putting more effort into holding on to those who have gone through their teacher training in England?"

And what can the UK do to actually retain these teachers and make sure that the training people are receiving in this country is not then seeing them leave for other nations, depriving the British education system of vital skills?

Ofsted believes the government should be offering more incentives to help keep people in the UK, called "golden handcuffs", with financial bonuses for teaching in this country one of the main factors it wants to see introduced. 

However, a Department for Education spokesman said: "Despite the challenge of a competitive jobs market, the proportion of trainee teachers with a top degree has grown faster than in the population as a whole, and there are more teachers overall," as they said only a tiny minority of teachers have left the UK for other countries.