Support staff in schools are leaving their jobs and opting for better paid work in supermarkets, an investigation has revealed.
Headteachers are struggling to recruit and then retain staff with some having no interviewees for roles as candidates work out they can earn more stocking shelves.
Education experts say the combination of low wages and the higher cost of living is forcing people out of schools.
Pay scales for support staff outside London start at £18,333 per year, although staff on term-time-only contracts may be paid less than this, an investigation by the Times Educational Supplement has revealed.
The Department for Education claims schools have the freedom to set their own pay terms for support staff if they wish, but headteachers say budgets simply mean they can't.
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Paul Gosling, headteacher at Exeter Road Primary School in Devon and incoming president of the NAHT school leaders' union, revealed that his school had received no applications for some jobs when, in the past, they would have had 10 or more.
He said: "Candidates will sit down and calculate their pay and see, 'here, I can get 38 weeks whereas, in Tesco, I can get 52 weeks with holiday entitlement'. We're in a competitive market and we can't compete.
"I don't know where this ends. The danger is that we have children that need one-to-one support - they have a statutory entitlement to have a teaching assistant in the classroom, for example - and if we can't get people to interview, we can't meet our responsibility."
His views were repeated by numerous heads at schools across the county, who were losing staff for better paid retail work.
One supervisor in a West Yorkshire school told the TES anonymously: "It's got ridiculous since the cost of living crisis hit. I'm living pay cheque to pay cheque, we've no savings at all. I'm a wage away from the streets. If I get a surprise bill, I've had it."
Mike Short, head of education at Unison - which represents more than 250,000 members in support staff roles across the UK - said the situation was "shameful".
He said that people supporting the education of children are "struggling to put food on the table and pay the bills".
The Mirror previously reported that even teachers are having to resort to using food banks as the cost of living crisis hits.
Last month a survey found that ore than half of teachers are cutting back on food spending to make ends meet.
Union chiefs said even teachers were seriously considering whether they can afford to stay in post through the cost of living crisis after years of pay freezes and below-inflation hikes to their wage packets.
A survey for the NASUWT union found 54% of teachers were cutting back on their food shop, while 40% slashed spending on essential household goods.
One in 10 (11%) have taken on second jobs to make ends meet.
The survey of more than 10,000 teachers found seven out of 10 (70%) have considered leaving their job in the last 12 months - and nearly half (49%) cited pay as the reason.
Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said: "Teachers across the UK, and at every stage of their career, are seriously questioning if they can afford to continue another year in the education profession without a pay uplift that meets the sky-rocketing cost of living.
The Government has continuously failed to heed teachers' warnings that the toll of 12 years of pay erosion and successive pay freezes can no longer be endured.
"Now we are living with the bleak reality of teachers having no choice but to seek second jobs, cut back on essential supplies such as food and even relying on the assistance of food banks.
“With seven in ten teachers considering leaving the profession entirely, the Government must urgently secure the future of education by delivering a programme of pay restoration which recognises and values the work of teachers and headteachers.”
Department for Education spokesperson said: “We now have over 460,000 inspiring teachers in our classrooms across the country, which is 20,000 more than in 2010.
“Our latest proposals on teacher pay set out how we will deliver a £30,000 starting salary for teachers by 2023/24, as well as the highest experienced teacher pay award since 2006 in 2022/23.
“We understand that the rising cost of living is of concern to people across the country. We continue to balance rewarding teachers for their hard work – and attracting the brightest and the best into the profession – with a pay system that is appropriate and affordable for the taxpayer."
