The government says teacher numbers are rising

The government says that the latest statistics show that there are an increasing number of teachers in the classroom.

But the Conservative party says that half this increase depends on counting staff without qualified teacher status.

And it argues that the number of qualified, full-time staff has fallen since last year.

The Liberal Democrats say that the figures will be worse in the future, as the survey was taken before this year's budget shortages and the job losses that could follow.

The figures for January 2003, which were provisionally released in April, show that the number of full-time teaching posts in England has risen by 4,000 to 423,600.

And pupil-teacher ratios have risen by a small margin - with 22.6 primary pupils per teacher, compared to 22.5 last year and 17 secondary pupils per teacher, compared to 16.9 last year.

The government welcomed the increase in teacher numbers - saying that recruitment had now been on the increase for the past three years.

'Exposed'

But the Conservative education spokesperson, Damian Green, said that the figures "exposed the falsehood" of the government's claim to have recruited more teachers.

"They show that between 1997 and 2003 half the extra teachers were without qualified teacher status. On top of that the actual number of qualified regular full time teachers has fallen by 1,400 between 2002 and 2003."

But a spokesperson for the Department for Education and Skills rejected the claim, saying that the number of qualified teachers was at its highest for 19 years and that many of the "non-qualified" teachers were often experienced overseas staff.

"Most overseas-trained teachers in this country come from the English-speaking Commonwealth. Most are high-quality, experienced teachers who make a valuable contribution to children's education," said the spokesperson.

"Other instructors have special qualifications or experience. For instance, a computer expert, music or sports coach. These people play a very valuable role in schools and it is absurd to suggest they shouldn't."

Liberal Democrat education spokesperson, Phil Willis, said that the figures showed that government was "rowing back" on claims to have recruited an extra 25,000 teachers since 1997.

And he forecast that the budget problems faced by some schools this year would affect future staffing levels.

"Given the current budget crisis, schools are likely to use more unqualified staff as a way of balancing the books. Inevitably this will hit hardest those pupils in the most deprived schools or with the greatest needs.

"These figures represent a high-water mark for the education department, as the survey of teacher numbers took place in January, before the budget crisis of 2003-2004."