More than 40,000 teachers are on a waiting list for a permanent job in NSW, with universities continuing to pump out graduates despite the oversupply, which is particularly stark at the primary school level.

Yet in England there are not enough teachers to fill positions and recent reports suggest there could be a deficit of almost 30,000 by 2017.

A fortnight ago, the BBC reported supply teacher agencies were turning to Australia to find trained teachers to cope with the "ghastly" shortage.

Mitch Jones, who recruits Australian teachers to work in the UK, said there was a rush to attract not only experienced teachers but also new graduates.

"At the moment, the demand really is quite high and it definitely is increasing, moving now towards those long-term job positions as opposed to what was that stereotypical two-year working holiday," he said.

His agency, Protocol Education, works with about 4,000 public, religious and private schools across England and currently sends over about 500 Australian teachers each year.

"We simply can't keep up with the demand from the schools," he said. "We are running out of teachers."

Daniel Mundy, the managing director of the ANZUK Teachers, said his education agency enlisted thousands of teachers from across Australia each year to work in England.

"You do have people going purely because they haven't had the job opportunities here after university that they believed they would get but most are going because they want to experience another lifestyle and culture," he said.

Kaitlin Young and Emily Kerr-Laslett, who recently completed their education degree at the University of Canberra, flew out of Australia on Sunday to work as casual teachers in Cambridge.

The 23-year-olds are travelling under the Youth Mobility Scheme, which allows Australians under 31 to live and work in the UK for up to two years.

Ms Kerr-Laslett said it was "a good gateway to get some experience and start our career at the same time as travelling".

Ms Young expected the opportunity to be "exciting, refreshing and something new".

They also hoped the international experience would give them an edge down the track when applying for jobs in Australia.

"I know that it's just going to get more and more competitive with more graduates coming out every year because teaching is a very popular degree," Ms Kerr-Laslett said.

"I think that having that international experience, particularly with a different curriculum, is going to make us more appealing to different employers."

The average starting salary for a primary school teacher in Australia was about $US37,000 in 2012, compared with $US28,000 in England, according to the most recent OECD data.

Mr Mundy speculated the deficit of teachers in the UK had emerged in line with a strengthening economy.

"As the GFC has recovered, I believe a lot of people who looked to education for jobs and security while there was a huge downturn in the economy are now moving back into private enterprise where they can command more money," he said.