A �13m scheme to recruit high-flying graduates to teaching is to continue - even though it has found only a few hundred extra teachers.

The fast-track programme is designed to attract bright students into the teaching profession, with extra training allowances and a higher starting salary.

But a national advertising campaign and recruitment incentives have resulted in fewer than 300 fast track teachers over two years.

This means that the cost per teacher will have been more than double teachers' starting salaries.

The government rejects claims that this represents an expensive failure, saying that this is a long-term investment, which is about recruiting a higher quality, rather than greater quantity, of teachers.

'Exceptional leaders'

The fast track scheme received 30,000 inquiries and 2,480 applications, said a Department for Education spokesperson - but less than 300 were accepted.

In the future, it is expected that 1,000 fast track students will be recruited each year - with the expectation that these will move onto management roles within schools.

"Fast track should attract into the profession people who are capable of being the exceptional leaders of the future, at least on a par with business, accountancy, law and medicine," said a Department for Education spokesperson.

The government also rejects claims that the scheme is too costly - arguing that initial start-up costs should not be confused with the longer term running costs.

The Department for Education forecasts that the cost to recruit fast track teachers, over 15 years, will be in the region of �4,000 per teacher - less than a tenth of the initial cost per teacher.

"School leadership is now�one of the toughest and most important leadership roles in society.� The investment in fast track ... shows the value that the government places on leadership in education, where a single school can have a budget of many millions."

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