More people will be training to be teachers in England this year than for 12 years, official figures reveal, but the shortage of secondary school trainees continues.

A total of 29,236 people have embarked on undergraduate or postgraduate training this autumn, according to the Teacher Training Agency.

More have registered for courses starting during the academic year, taking the total up to 31,261.

This is 7% more than last year - but leaves the government 1,005 people short of its target for the recruitment of trainee secondary school teachers.

This rise is excellent news for the profession, parents and pupils across the country

David Miliband School Standards Minister

Nevertheless, the chief executive of the agency, Ralph Tabberer, said the figures were "a tremendous achievement".

"It is clear that more and more graduates believe teaching is a career which offers rewards which cannot be matched elsewhere," he said.

The total number of training registrations was the highest since at least 1989/90, the agency said, and had gone up for the third year in a row.

There are 14,476 people registered to train to be primary school teachers, up 10% on last year and several hundred above target.

And 16,785 have registered for secondary courses - a 5% rise, but 5.65% below the number of training places that were available.

The great majority of the trainees - 23,460 - are on postgraduate courses, with just 7,801 doing education as their first degree.

Shortage areas

The training agency says there are more trainees in each of the priority secondary subjects - those which have the most severe staff shortages.

The subjects are: maths, science, modern foreign languages, English (including drama), design and technology and information and communication technology.

Miliband: Teaching has "tremendous rewards"

These attract "golden hellos" of �4,000 and - under a new scheme - people may also now have their student loans repaid for them if they stay in the job for 10 years.

The figures were being announced at a conference in Birmingham on Monday, where the School Standards Minister, David Miliband, said they showed "real progress" was being made.

"More people than ever are recognising the tremendous rewards of a teaching career," he said.

"This is even more impressive at a time when there are a wealth of career options for graduates.

"This rise is excellent news for the profession, parents and pupils across the country and shows we are recruiting the teachers we need for the future."

Older profile

There was no complacency but the government's recruitment strategy was "clearly working".

"Teachers are the backbone of our education system and there has never been a more exciting time to train to be a teacher."

Ralph Tabberer said employment-based routes into teaching now accounted for about one in 10 of all training places.

About a third of new teachers were aged 30 or more, and half were over 25.

"Graduates are taking more time to find the career which suits them best," he said.

"We will continue to encourage people seeking new challenges, and those who find they are not using the skills and knowledge they acquired during their first degree studies, to consider changing to teaching."

The latest figures do however highlight the very slow take-up of the so-called Fast Track scheme designed to attract bright students into the teaching profession, with extra training allowances and a higher starting salary.

Recruitment has cost �13m - and this year brought in just 116 of the 31,261 total trainees.

Salaries for most newly-qualified teachers start at �17,595.