It says that weaknesses persist in the way primary teachers are trained, in spite of improvements brought about by national literacy and numeracy initiatives.

The report, published by the Office for Standards in Education, is based on inspections of 72 initial treacher training courses in England.

Inspectors found that the government's literacy and numeracy initiatives had substantially improved student teachers' teaching methods and classroom organisation.

'Rigorous standards'

But trainees were rarely shown how to plan a structured programme of teaching pupils to read using the phonics method. In maths, many failed to properly monitor and assess their pupils' progress.

Ofsted's Head of Teacher Education and Training, David Taylor, said student teachers were now required to meet "rigorous and demanding" standards in the teaching of maths and English.

"A number of policy areas are coming together to make sure that primary trainees will, increasingly, enter schools with the required competence and confidence," he said.