Major employers in the county could struggle to recruit workers if more teachers are not found for subjects such as design and technology, it has been warned.

Fears have been raised that some subjects could vanish from the curriculum completely due to a lack of people wanting to teach them.

The shortage is being worsened by property prices and the high cost of living, with headteachers warning this week that staff have been reduced to tears by high rents.

Oxfordshire Teacher Training, based at The Cherwell School, is one of the main teacher training centres in the county but has had barely any applications for design and technology or religious education.

Oxford-based education expert Professor John Howson, who has advised the Government on its policies, said there was also a serious issue recruiting computing teachers.

He added: “There is a risk that subjects that are not compulsory will end up dropping off the curriculum. Those subjects that are important for wealth generation are struggling to recruit.”

Firms such as BMW, which employs thousands at its Mini plant in Cowley, should be “seriously worried” about how this would affect recruitment of apprentices in three or four years, he added.

He added: “A lot of small technology businesses in Oxfordshire will struggle."

He warned the problem was made worse by the high cost of living in Oxford and called on the Government to do more to attract teachers to the area.

The number of vacancies from January to the end of April compared to the same period last year rose by four per cent, with drops in falls in teaching design tech and computing.

Prof Howson said this was the result of the Government’s focus on English and Maths, making the other subjects less attractive, and warned it could leave the county with gaps in its skilled workforce.

Speaking at a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council’s education scrutiny committee on Monday, Wheatley Park School headteacher Kate Curtis said a lack of affordable housing had caused some of her best staff to leave.

She said: “Oxford is an attractive place for a young teacher in their 20s to come to. However they often end up living in really poor housing and it worries me to think of a 25-year-old living in a damp and expensive shared house. I find it completely unacceptable.”

Ms Curtis said keeping teachers was even harder then recruiting them.

She said about eight teachers – 10 per cent of her staff – were planning to move on at the end of this academic year.

Mrs Curtis added: “Of those, half are people who have come to me, some of them in tears, saying they just cannot afford to live in this area."

She warned difficulties in recruiting teachers, meant sometimes hiring "the least worst option".

It follows concerns raised by Cherwell School assistant head Patrick Garton earlier this year. Mr Garton, who is in charge of training, said there were serious worries about the shortage.

He said: “We need design and technology teachers and we work very hard to find them. The irony of us having BMW down the road but not being able to train students who might work there is shocking. I am also desperately worried about the state of religious education, it is particularly perilous.”

Zest Digital, a digital marketing company based at Oxford Science Park, recruits staff with qualifications or a talent for computing.

The firm already struggles to find people from the county who are suitable to fill its vacancies. Marketing manager James Sutton said it was crucial youngsters learnt computing at school.

He said: “It definitely is already a problem; we find we are really competing with London. Everybody in our office would have developed their interests at an early stage. If they were not engaged at that early time that would not have been the career of their choice.”

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Thames Valley said it was concerned about subjects such as design and technology and IT being dropped from the curriculum.

Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for education Melinda Tilley said she was worried about the lack of teachers in some subjects but there was not much the local authority could do.

She said: “Teachers come because it is a good place to start their career but then they cannot afford to live here.

The scrutiny committee recommended the council examine new ways to house teachers, including by selling its own land to housing associations.

THE YOUNG TEACHER'S VIEW

Emma Brassell, art teacher at Oxford Spires Academy, 23.

Oxford Mail:

"My boyfriend and I are trying to buy a house, preferably somewhere in East Oxford but it is nearly impossible there so we are also looking in Ddicot.
"This part of the world is so much higher than anywhere else.
"I went to university in Lincoln and the rents there are so cheap.
"Some of my friends have stayed up there because it is cheaper.
"I have saved up a deposit and scrimped and saved but there are problems with different schemes to help people buy.
"My boyfriend and I are both very keen to buy so we have been living with our parents.
"We cannot rent because rent prices are so high we could not save any money to buy.
"I think we will eventually be able to buy because we have a deposit that we have saved for for so many years."

THE EXPERIENCD TEACHER'S VIEW

Dr Jackie Watson, 47, head of sixth form at Oxford Spires Academy

Oxford Mail:

"It is very different for me because I am a lot further on in my career.
"It is the newer teachers I feel sorry for, it is the most costly place for a teacher to be.
"I am sure the cost of living puts off people before they even get to the stage of talking to anyone about the roles and opportunities here.
"Young teachers bring in the really new experience of what life is like right now so they are very important for a school.
"It is very difficult for young teachers.
"I did my degree in Oxford so my experience is I know the city but people moving from other parts of the country will just see the cost and not necessarily how good it is."

THE HEADTEACHER'S VIEW

Sue Croft, headteacher at Oxford Spires Academy, East Oxford

"I would say the most difficult subjects to recruit for are design and technology, computing and geography.
"In terms of design and technology and computing, people who tend to have those skills can get highly paid jobs elsewhere.
"There are just not enough teachers out there.
"We have ended up training our own for computing, we took a maths teacher with a computing degree and retrained them.
"If it gets to a situation where you are not teaching those subjects then you will never get teachers for them.
"I think the first thing we would do would be retraining good teachers and get them outside their conventional area.
"But there is that risk that we would not teach those subjects and would never have enough teachers in those subjects.
"The Government has to create the right incentive.
"Sometimes that means money, sometimes it is incentives in terms of quality of life.
"I think it is the most fantastic profession, it gives you an enormous sense of wellbeing.
"Somehow you need to get that message out there more.
"There should be less teacher bashing and more positive images shared and teachers supported to do a good job."