Official recruiting emphasises the intellectual challenge

A total of 33,739 want to start courses this autumn, which is 2,368 more than at the same time last year.

The increases were 9.1% in Scotland, 8% in England and 0.6% in Wales.

There were big rises for many secondary subjects for which teachers are in short supply, especially sciences where chemistry applications rose by a third.

The figures relate to people who have applied so far for Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses starting in autumn 2004 with training providers in England and Wales, and in all but one of the Scottish teacher education institutions.

'Encouraging'

PGCE students account for about three-quarters of trainee teachers - the other major route being the four-year BEd degree, reported separately.

The Graduate Teacher Training Registry, which released the figures, said that in recent years more students had applied towards the end of their degree courses in response to various recruitment initiatives.

England's Department for Education and Skills called the figures "encouraging".

"However, it's too early to make assumptions about how many trainees there will be next year as the application cycle will continue until September," a spokesperson said.

Sciences

The Scottish Executive has promised to recruit another 3,000 teachers to meet its commitment to cut class sizes for English and maths in the first two secondary years by 2007-08.

So far total applications for secondary training in Scotland this year are up 20.8%, to 1,301.

There was a 23.3% rise for maths, 17.5% for English and a near-40% increase in those wanting to teach biology.

In England, chemistry applications rose by a third, physics almost as much, maths by more than a quarter and English and biology by about 15%.

Overall, secondary subjects were up by 14.5%, while 4.5% more were opting for primary courses.

In Wales there was a 14.6% increase in secondary subjects, to 787 in total, but a 5.5% fall for the primary years, to 1,464.