The employment rate for qualified teachers increased slightly

Some 15.1% of final-year students failed to graduate last year, according to figures from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

For those studying primary school teaching the proportion was 11.9%.

Professor Alan Smithers of Buckingham University, who analysed the figures, called them "surprising".

Highest failure rates

It is the first time the proportion of those failing or dropping out of teaching courses has been measured in this way.

According to Prof Smithers, it was "not uncommon" for rates at some colleges and universities to exceed 20%.

The highest failure rates for secondary teacher training were at Greenwich (37.8%), Brunel (33.2%) and Goldsmiths (26.7%).

For the primary sector, they were at Goldsmiths (33.7%), Brunel (30%) and Hertfordshire (21.8%).

Prof Smithers said: "It was a surprising rate overall. We will be looking back at the TDA figures in previous years to see whether this failure rate is unusual."

Employment prospects

However, there was a slight fall in the proportion of successfully qualified teachers failing to get a job within six months of ending their course.

For the primary sector, it went from 5.8% in January 2005 to 5.4% at the same time this year.

In the secondary sector, the proportion fell from 2.8% to 2.7%.

Meanwhile, the number of newly qualified maths teachers is continuing to rise, going to 2,014 last year from 1,849 in 2004. The figure was 936 in 1998.

Of those completing post-graduate teacher training courses last year, 56% had achieved an upper-second-class degree or better as an undergraduate - up from 55% in 2004.

But maths had the lowest proportion of high-achievers of all subjects, at 39%. Classics had the highest proportion - 79%.

The executive director for initial teacher training at the TDA, Michael Day, said: "Ofsted has said that this generation of newly qualified teachers is the best ever, and the number of teachers with good degrees is also rising.

"We still need to work hard to help providers find more strong candidates in maths and science and the TDA will continue to campaign vigorously to remind people with degrees and experience in those areas that teaching is intellectually stimulating, exciting and a job in which no two days are the same."