Thousands of bank workers facing redundancy are to be targeted as recruits for teaching.

The new head of the Teacher Training Agency, Ralph Tabberer, says that banks will be contacted to see if any of the current wave of staff leaving the banking industry could be recruited for the classroom.

Graduate banking staff could be offered talks and professional careers guidance explaining what re-training as a teacher could offer them - at a time when higher salaries and fast-tracking schemes are "revolutionising" the profession, said Mr Tabberer.

This week LloydsTSB announced the loss of 3,000 jobs, in the latest round of staff cuts which has affected many companies in the financial services sector.

Mr Tabberer, who heads an agency responsible for recruiting and training teachers, says the profession needs to adopt a far more flexible approach to finding new staff.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to recruitment, Mr Tabberer proposes that teaching needs to offer more diverse routes into the profession.

Graduates in industries such as banking or information technology should not face "unnecessary barriers" to moving into teaching, said Mr Tabberer.

This will be backed by a �2m advertising campaign, which will feature a television commercial emphasising how teachers can develop transferable skills, such as being a "psychologist, advocate, diplomat and coach".

As well as recruiting "career shifters" from other professions, Mr Tabberer anticipates that teaching will also face a change in its own working patterns.

"We need to get away from the idea of teaching as a job for life. There might be young teachers who come into the profession for 10 years and then move onto another career," he said.

Mr Tabberer also says he wants to adopt a more precise and "business-like" approach to the shortage of teachers and to get away from the impression that there is a general shortage of staff.

Recruitment problems are in specific areas, he says, in places such as London and in particular subjects, such as science, maths and modern languages, which now have financial incentives for new recruits.

Mr Tabberer also promised greater efforts to recruit more male teachers and from ethnic minorities, with the forthcoming advertising campaign to reflect these priorities.