The campaign, to be launched in Ireland this month, is called Smarter Scotland, and targets young Irish teachers who may be having trouble finding a permanent job, as well as problems affording their own home.

"In Scotland, we have made a commitment to have 53,000 secondary school teachers in the classrooms by the end of 2007, " said a spokeswoman for the Scottish education department. "We want to cut class sizes, especially in Maths and English, so that there are only 20 students per class. We know Irish teaching graduates are of an extremely high quality and are quite likely to consider a teaching career in Scotland. Here, they will be well rewarded."

The advertising campaign uses house prices as an enticement, pointing out that the average price of a house in Scotland is 287,584 less than the Dublin average. "You can do better than this, try teaching in Scotland, " it says.

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has expressed its concern at the campaign, which it says is similar to recruitment drives from as far away as the US and Australia.

"There is a very high proportion of graduates only getting temporary and part-time work, with six per cent last year being offered permanent positions, " said ASTI general secretary John White. "The government should be very concerned about this and the fact that Irish teachers are opting to go abroad. The pupil-teacher ratio has not been increased since 1999 and most junior cycle classes contain at least 30 pupils. There needs to be improvement across the board to keep our teachers here instead of sending them abroad."

The Scottish Executive first started advertising in Ireland in 2005. In that year, 19 graduates moved to Scotland, and in 2006 that figure rose to 40. Some 551 English teachers moved to Scotland last year, while 96 Australians and 120 Poles took up Scottish posts.

However, Ireland is the only country in which the Scottish Executive is placing an advertising campaign.

"We are aware that there is a high number of Irish teaching graduates looking for employment every year and we have taken into account Scotland's accessibility to the Republic, " said a spokeswoman.

"While we are pretty close to our target and have over 52,000 teachers in the classroom now, we are anxious to take as many Irish teachers as we can get."

Irish teachers who are qualified can apply to teach almost any subject, including English, Maths, Languages, History, Geography, Home Economics, Science, Computing and Drama.

Since the McCrone Education Agreement was introduced in Scotland in 2001, teaching conditions have improved considerably. Teachers starting their career there can expect a salary of approximately 29,180 and will get 13 weeks' holidays a year. They will be offered a full pension.

This compares unfavourably with Irish teachers who get 19 weeks' holidays every year and have a slightly higher starting salary of 30,580. However, under the Scottish system, teachers work 35 hours a week, which includes time for marking and examinations. In Ireland, teachers generally spend several extra hours a week on these tasks.

Peadar McCabe from Co Cavan moved to Scotland a few years ago to work and now teaches English in Aberdeen. The chief benefit of teaching in Scotland is the availability of jobs, he said.

"I would not have been able to secure full-time, permanent employment back home in Ireland as easily as I was able to do in Scotland. The cost of living is lower than and properties are cheaper.

Also, in Ireland I would be expected to teach two or three subjects rather than specialising in one."

Now married to a Scottish woman and with a baby daughter, McCabe said that while he does miss Ireland and doesn't get home as much as he would like to, he now feels that Scotland is his home.

"I think anyone graduating in Ireland with ambitions to teach would be well-advised to consider teaching in Scotland, " he said.

"Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see more young Irish people working here."