There is a shortage of teachers in some subjects

The chief inspector, David Bell, says four out of five initial teacher training courses for primary and secondary school teachers in England are good or very good.

But he says that despite "golden hellos" for trainee teachers in shortage subjects such as maths, science and modern languages, not enough people are coming forward.

Trainees know more about their subjects and there have been "significant" improvements in the way they plan and manage lessons, according to two Ofsted reports on training published on Friday.

Weaknesses

In a speech to head teachers in Cumbria, Mr Bell will say: "The evidence from school inspections over recent years has shown a steady improvement in the quality of newly qualified teachers, reflecting these improvements in initial teacher training.

"Today's newly qualified teachers are the best trained ever."

The biggest weakness among trainee teachers, according to Ofsted, is in their ability to monitor the progress of their pupils.

They should also improve the way they work with classroom assistants so their efforts are more effective, the reports said.

On the shortage subjects, Mr Bell will say on Friday: "In spite of encouraging recent improvements, many courses, especially mathematics, science and modern foreign languages, still fail to recruit sufficient trainees and in the future this is likely to remain a challenge."

Modern training

The reports' findings were welcomed by the School Standards Minister, David Miliband.

"Ofsted have previously said we have the best generation of teachers ever, now they say we have the best teacher trainees ever," he said.

The Teacher Training Agency (TTA) said the results were due to a good partnership between schools and higher education.

The organisation's chief executive, Ralph Tabberer, said: "Modern training is practical and highly relevant to the classroom.

"I hope that this report will encourage more people to sign up to a career in teaching."