Education is one of our greatest exports. It is not until you go abroad (I have just returned from Thailand) that you realise just how much it’s revered in many parts of the globe. More importantly, what really hits home is just how admired and sought-after British-trained teachers are.

Here in England, it’s like another world, where politicians and the mainstream media carp constantly about schools’ deficiencies and teachers are used as political pawns and punchbags to the point where they can often feel that nothing they do is right.

But go overseas and it’s a completely different story. Everyone wants a British education and everyone wants it preferably delivered by British teachers. The appetite for British international schools - and our teachers - seems insatiable, especially in the Far East and particularly China.

There are already more than 500 international schools in China for foreign residents. If you think that stat is worrying, consider this: there has been a recent mushrooming in the number of schools that offer a dual-curriculum education aimed at the local population and in the number of middle-class Chinese parents who can afford them. That’s why we see the big British “brands” of Wellington College and Dulwich College setting up shop there.

So when we talk about a teacher shortage, we are not talking about just England. This is a global market with a global shortfall. According to Unesco, almost 69 million more teachers are needed by 2030 to achieve universal primary and secondary education as part of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the international educational community.

Usually, when something is in short supply it is valued more, appreciated, even cherished. But not here. Because the government is in a bind. It cannot admit to a local crisis, because that shows it is not in control. It cannot “love” its teachers, because that shows political weakness to those on the right-wing of the party (Justine Greening tried, and look what happened to her). And it cannot leave the profession to do its job unhindered because it has to deliver Tory votes in the next election and it has no money, so has to resort to accountability.

What it does have, however, is a great big fat catastrophe, whichever way you look at it. And it’s a catastrophe of its own making. The DfE’s constant repetition of the phrase (maybe it’s a mantra) we have “more teachers in our schools than ever before” simply masks the problem, but it certainly doesn’t solve it. And who are they fooling? Sadly, only themselves.

On top of the recruitment crisis that we already knew about, it appears we now need a 22.5 per cent increase in the number of secondary school teachers by 2024. That’s 47,000 more. And that doesn’t take into account teachers leaving the system who need replacing.

The worst thing is that this is no surprise. It’s no sudden influx of immigrant children nobody saw coming. No, this is the demographic bulge in primary pupils moving into secondary as surely as night follows day.

In these unfortunate times, what should lift the profession is the knowledge that everybody wants a British education and that everybody wants British teachers. We should be proud of that fact and we should be shouting it from the rooftops.

For experienced teachers, that would be one huge confidence and morale boost. For any young person considering teaching, it’s a massive incentive to know that your future skills will be in demand, to know that you will be valued and to know that you truly have a world of opportunity ahead of you.

But isn’t it ironic that the answer to making a profession feel better about itself is one that will probably make our local recruitment crisis even worse.

@AnnMroz