TEACHERS in the North-East are being targeted by education officials seeking to overcome shortages in part of Scotland.

Aberdeen City Council begins a four-day recruitment drive across the North of England, in County Durham, on Monday.

Education officials from the council will be at the Travel Inn, on the A1(M) Durham service area, at Bowburn, to try to persuade students and teachers of the merits of working in the Granite City.

Vacant posts in Aberdeen include subjects such as maths, technology, modern languages and English.

John Stodter, the city council's corporate director of learning and leisure, said: "We can offer curriculum support and learning resources for core and specialist areas, and opportunities for teachers' personal and professional development.

"This is a supportive and innovative local authority, with inclusion, raising achievement and lifelong learning at the heart of its plans for children's services in the 21st Century.

"We're confident people will think it's a great place and that they will stay.

"The quality of life is very good and access to the countryside is second to none."

Apart from a salary ranging from £17,226 to £27,603, moving packages are also being offered to any teacher agreeing to make the switch north.

A growing shortage of teachers in Aberdeen has prompted the city council to spread its net south of the border and overseas to Ireland, while the Internet is being used to advertise to a wider audience.

The city council describes Aberdeen as "a thriving, cosmopolitan port in north-east Scotland".

Built at the mouth of the rivers Dee and Don, the city owes its distinctive appearance to the famous locally quarried and widely exported building material.

Traditional industries of fishing and farming still flourish, but Aberdeen's buoyant modern economy, reflected in unemployment rates of less than two per cent, is fuelled by the offshore oil and gas industry, earning the city the reputation as Europe's energy capital.

The recruitment event on Monday runs from 2pm to 9pm. Further information is available by calling (01224) 346266, or via the website, www.aberdeencity.gov.uk