Head teachers can struggle to find enough suitable candidates

Recruiting a teacher can cost schools �4,000, says a survey from a teacher supply agency.

And difficulties in finding staff can be made worse by the poor appearance of applicants and spelling mistakes in applications.

The survey, produced annually by the Select Education recruitment agency, says that 60% of schools have vacancies for permanent staff.

And it says that the cost of advertisements, staff time and administration can add up to �4,000 per recruit.

According to the survey, 9% of schools made 11 or more appointments last year, while 30% recruited four or more teachers and 73% took on at least one teacher.

'Bad mouthing'

But the survey also highlights the concerns of head teachers about the quality of applicants, with 28% saying they were worse than last year (while 51% said they were of the same quality).

Among the problems with applications mentioned by head teachers were spelling mistakes, odd ink colours used and "pompous, rambling and vague" letters.

If the application reached the interview stage, there were other problems, including "hygiene", chewing gum and "bad-mouthing present school".

The True Time and Cost of Teacher Recruitment Survey, based on 167 schools, found that 40% of heads said there were fewer responses to job adverts than last year, and that 29% produced less than five responses.

The government in the United Kingdom, as in many other developed countries, has faced an extended shortage of teachers.

Among the efforts to increase recruitment have been financial incentives for training and improvements in teachers' pay.

But in the United States, there have been signs that the wider employment market can make a considerable difference - with the security of teaching becoming more attractive as the private sector jobs market becomes tougher.