Some 21,755 of the 22,900 trainees who sat the tests on June 1 achieved the 60 per cent pass rate. The 1,145 trainees who failed have four more opportunities to achieve the standard, a requirement for all newly-qualified teachers.

Threats of a mass boycott of the tests, which many students complained had been introduced after they signed up for heir courses, were only partially realised, as the turn-out was 95 per cent.

Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said: “The high pass rate is good news for teachers.

“But it must also throw into question the need for the tests. It’s a classic case of the Government making a big announcement about the need to raise standards, then finding out that standards did not need to be raised.”