The proportion of graduates from England and Wales applying for teacher-training courses varies widely depending on their ethnicity, according to the latest figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas).

At the top end, 6.6 per cent of graduates with a Bangladeshi background applied in 2015. That was followed by 4.8 per cent of white graduates, which amounts to some 36,400 applicants and 81 per cent of the total applications.

This compares with just 1.3 per cent of Chinese graduates and 1.5 per cent of those with black-African backgrounds applying for teacher training courses.

Ucas figures also reveal that white applicants are the most successful in gaining a place on a teacher-training course, with almost two-thirds (63 per cent) accepted. That compares with around a third of black students (34 per cent), and less than half of students of Asian ethnicity (47 per cent).

In Scotland last year, calls were made to improve diversity in the country’s schools after Scottish government figures revealed that the proportion of ethnic minority teachers was falling. They had dropped to 0.8 per cent of primary teachers and 1.7 per cent of secondary teachers.