The number of postgraduate teacher trainees is at its highest in seven years, new data shows.

But recruitment has still not returned to the levels of the start of the past decade, when trainee numbers topped 35,000.

Increase in postgraduate teacher trainees

Figures published today by the Department for Education show that the number of postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) students in their final year in 2018-19 was 28,949.

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This was up from 27,878 in 2017-18, and the highest figure since 2012-13.

However, Teach First trainees were only included in the data from 2015-16.

Meanwhile, the proportion of trainees expected to teach in state schools within 16 months of qualifying has fallen slightly - from 80 per cent in 2017-18, to 79 per cent in 2018-19.