Letting teachers work abroad could help to solve the staff-retention crisis, according to the Council of British International Schools (Cobis).

Chief executive Colin Bell said a survey by Cobis found that nearly half of teachers in international schools (47 per cent) had previously been dissatisfied with their work at home.

Nearly a third of those surveyed, most of whom were British, had been considering leaving teaching altogether when they moved abroad.

Giving teachers the opportunity to go overseas was “a way of retaining colleagues within our profession overall”, Mr Bell told the Girls’ Schools Association annual conference today.

The UK education sector is facing a growing shortfall of teachers, with the government missing its teacher-recruitment targets for five years running amid a rise in pupil numbers in secondary schools.

Research has found that poor job satisfaction, long hours and heavy workload are the key factors driving the rising teacher drop-out rate.  

Meanwhile, demand is surging for British educators abroad and the number of English-medium K12 International schools has more than tripled since 2010. 

ISC Research estimates that British international schools will need up to 230,000 more teachers over the next decade.

About three-quarters of the teachers surveyed by Cobis had spent between three and six years working abroad.

As well as unhappiness at home, they cited the desire to travel, the challenge, hope for promotion and higher pay as reasons to go.

More than half (51 per cent) said they did not intend, or were unlikely, to ever teach in the UK again.

Mr Bell said international schools tend to have more flexible curricula and are often better resourced than their UK counterparts.

“Teachers really respond to that,” he told Tes at the conference. “They feel invigorated and they don’t feel constrained.”