Fewer would-be primary teachers began their teacher training last September than the government wanted, according to figures from the admissions service Ucas.

The figures show that 10,350 trainees had places on training courses in England for primary by the end of September - 10 per cent fewer than the government’s 11,489 target.

The targets are based on how many trainees are required to ensure an adequate supply of teachers for England’s state schools. The overall target was for 29,176 trainees to start postgraduate training courses last September, but the Ucas figures show that 24,950 began teacher training in England (a 14 per cent shortfall), with a further 1,010 in Wales.

Ucas publishes figures for each subject showing how successful recruitment has been. In 2016, a new system of asking universities and training schools to recruit up to a national cap, rather than giving them an allocated number of places, may have affected primary recruitment with some providers saying that they had been forced to turn people away.

Providers have been told for several years that they can recruit as many people as they want for maths, but only 2,340 people were placed on maths teacher training courses this year - three-quarters of the 3,102 target.

@teshelen