But pity the poor headteacher, struggling to cope with planning the staffing and budget for next year, when teachers can disappear almost at the drop of a hat. Good practitioners in a shortage subject can defy the terms of their contracts with abandon if they choose. Who’s going to sue them? And how popular would you be in the staffroom if you stood in the way of a golden opportunity for anyone?

When I was interviewed for my first job, I was warned that a verbal acceptance would be considered binding, and that were I to renege on it, I would be sued. I believed them (I know, friends called me a poor sap even at the time). But there was also the matter of my conscience - I believed that my word was binding. I was also on the employer’s side, which may be a bizarre indication of poor sap-dom.

Teachers today, with a well developed interest in their own futures, have been joined by sinister allies - other headteachers. I recently lost a member of staff to a rival school after a brief “Can you tell us a bit aboutI ?” phone call from the head’s PA late in the day of my teacher’s second interview. I asked had the job been given, and was this request a mere formality? I was told she was on “a very, very short list”. Of one, maybe?

The next day my teacher told me she had accepted the post - promotion, more cash, less teaching, the usual incentives. But still no request for a written reference, no paperwork describing the job or asking my opinion on the candidate’s skills, talents or aptitude. You might call it buying blind, or every man for himself.

A similar case arose with a part-timer who phoned to say she’d been offered a full-time post by a neighbouring school, and this time not even a phone call. As far as I know, mine is the only school in the UK in which this teacher has worked, so you would think that the school might be interested in her performance. But no. She looks good at interview, she carries open references from abroad, grab her.

References used to carry enormous weight: they were sought before candidates were summoned for interview - and that often depended upon the views of your referees. Perhaps we are now getting closer to the commercial practice of making your own judgment and referencing after the event.

For an Easter departure, after the contracts were signed, I received a letter asking did I think the person could do the job. I said yes, but did not elaborate. At that point, my opinion was superfluous.

I have mixed feelings about references. We all know you can write a bad one if you want to keep a good person, and vice versa. But it does surprise me when they start to disappear altogether, which implies that you could never trust a reference when surely most of the time you could. To do away with them altogether must be dangerous.

Perhaps, in the new dog-eat-dog world of staffing schools, they are a waste of everybody’s time. Read the application, watch them teach a class, make sure they are seen by at least two interviewers, then go for it.

After all, you’ve got a school to run. And sod the school they came from.

Hilary Moriarty is headteacher of Bedgebury school in Kent