by political editor Paul Francis

Schools in Kent should be able to pay teachers more to counter a recuitment crisis caused by competition with London schools offering higher salaries.

Cllr Jenny Whittle (Con), the county councillor responsible for school standards at Kent County Council, said many schools found it increasingly difficult to recruit problems because of the salary differentials between the capital and the county.

Her warning came as it emerged that two headteacher vacancies at secondary schools in north west Kent had only attracted four applications.

Cllr Whittle said the Government should be prepared to provide extra money to the county's schools to allow them to compete with London.

"Headteachers are telling me they are having problems in recruiting teachers particularly for the core subjects of maths and English," she said. "What we need is a Kent weighting allowance because we do suffer competition from the outer London boroughs who can pay their teachers to meet the high costs of housing."

Recruitment problems were particularly acute in north Kent but not only confined to that area, she added.

A newly-qualified teacher in London can earn £24,552 a year because of the additional "weighting" to meet the higher costs of living compared to £21,102 elsewhere.

For teachers with advanced skills, salary levels in outer London range between £39,523 and £58,577 compared to £36,618 and £55,669 in the rest of the country.

Robert Straker, County Secretary for the National Association of Headteachers and Headmaster of Anthony Roper Primary School in Eynsford.

Robin Straker, who represents Kent heads on the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) said: "There are huge difficulties in recruitment. It is fine if you live in Kent and have a house in Kent but if you are moving from somewhere else [to teach], it is almost impossible."

The cost of living in Kent was just as high as it was in London, he added: "Now when we advertise vacancies in what are very, very good schools close to London, we are getting just one or two applicants."

In the case of one school in Dartford and a second in Sevenoaks, there had been just two applications for headteachers' posts, he said.