SECONDARY schools in the North-East are desperate for teachers, according to an education recruitment agency.

Protocol Teachers said there was a growing number of unfilled vacancies at secondary schools in the region.

It has issued an appeal to try to find teachers to provide emergency, short-term cover and to fill long-term posts.

Manager Trudie Heron said job adverts that Protocol placed in local newspapers and job centres had failed to fill 90 supply places and 24 long-term posts at 70 secondary schools.

She said: "Schools are crying out for applicants for both the short-term supply teaching roles and long-term posts.

"The shortages are right across the range of subjects -English, maths, science, modern languages, humanities and PE.

"We are also looking for nursery nurses, teaching assistants and instructors or people wishing to get into teaching."

Provisional figures released by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in April revealed there were 110 teacher vacancies for secondary schools and 30 teacher vacancies for nursery and primary schools in the North-East.

They also showed the number of teachers in the region had risen from 22,200 in 1997 to 22,700 in 2004.

No one from the DfES was available for comment yesterday.

Protocol is holding a recruitment event at its branch in Ridley Place, Newcastle, on Wednesday, from 4pm to 6.30pm.