Teachers turn to agencies for lessons in love

The advertisements claim that no one forgets a good teacher. But that doesn't stop Sir and Miss being unlucky in love, according to a survey by Britain's largest dating agency.

The advertisements claim that no one forgets a good teacher. But that doesn't stop Sir and Miss being unlucky in love, according to a survey by Britain's largest dating agency.

Teachers are the profession most likely to sign on with Dateline, the computer matchmakers, comprising one in 30 of the 25,000 people on the company's books. They have overtaken nurses in the three years since the Guernsey-based company last surveyed its clients.

Introduction agencies cite divorce, stress, long hours and the decline in the number of men joining the profession for the steady rise in the number of teachers with lonely hearts.

But most teachers say they would not date another teacher, perhaps fearing an evening dominated not by sweet nothings but by educational standards and performance-related pay.

"Teachers are the new monks of the 21st century," said Gwen Evans, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. "Chris Woodhead [chief inspector of schools] has dropped from the top of the complaints to our stress helpline. Now teachers complain about workload and exhaustion that leaves them no time for a life."

Lyn Davies, the chairman of the Association of British Introduction Agencies, said as many as one in eight of her clients were teachers, most aged in their early 30s.

Guy Morris, Dateline operations director, said: "I don't think that teachers are particularly lonely but their long hours and long holidays perhaps make it difficult for them to match up with other people - unless, of course, they are other teachers."