A new recruitment drive for teachers will target industrialists, aerospace engineers and bankers who are fed up with their current mundane professions.

The government’s Teacher Training Agency will pay highly-qualified people from the industrial sector £150 a week to retrain as maths, science or modern languages teachers.

More than 100 people have already opted for salary cuts of more than £20,000 a year to sign up for the courses, after a televised advertising campaign designed to relieve teacher skill shortages.

Courses started last month and allow people skilled in maths and science to become qualified to teach their subjects in line with school curricula.

The government estimates that secondary schools are short of 3,800 maths teachers.