The education crisis in Oxfordshire is deepening as high property prices force teachers to go elsewhere for work.

As children prepare to return to school for the new academic year, parents have voiced fears about their children's future education.

Figures published by the Land Registry show the average price of a property in Oxfordshire was 145,718 during the first three months of this year.

But the average teaching wage is just 23,657 a year - leaving two teachers on an average salary trying to raise a joint mortgage on a house of that price, with a shortfall of 27,434.

Other public sector staff, such as nurses, postal workers and hospital porters are also affected, according to the GMB union.

An exodus of teachers leaving Oxford's schools because of plans to scrap middle schools and replace them with secondaries and primaries has compounded the situation.

Hilja Bassett, of Leafield Road, Oxford, who has two children at Cheney Upper School, said she was concerned about the high turnover. "Sometimes teachers leave halfway through a year and don't get replaced, leaving a GCSE class without a teacher. Children need continuity when they are doing their GCSEs and A-levels, she said.

Unions have been pressing Oxfordshire County Council to give teachers relocation costs, provide accommodation for teachers at affordable rent and help with mortgage costs, to help recruit and retain staff.

Max Burr and his partner, Naomi Harding, are both teachers who were renting in Oxford but had to move to Chippenham to be able to afford to buy their own home. Kim Watson, Oxfordshire County Council's recruitment and selection manager, said a report looking at the problem was being compiled.

In the meantime, we have compiled a list of rented accommodation for teachers moving into the area and we have a small number of rented properties for county council employees, she added.