The number of newly qualified teachers in maths and science continues to grow, a new report has found.

According to figures from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), the number of trainees who gained qualified teacher status in maths was 2,014 in 2005, up from 1,849 in 2004. The figure was just 936 in 1998.

The number in science was 2,810 in 2005, compared with 2,711 a year earlier and 1,910 in 1998.

In all, 33,750 trainees qualified as teachers last year, a 6 per cent rise over 2004.

The study also shows that 56 per cent of post-graduate trainees achieved an upper-second-class degree or better last year, up from 55 per cent in 2004.

Thirty-one per cent of first-year trainees were aged 30 or over in 2005, and 11 per cent were from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Michael Day, executive director for initial teacher training at the TDA, said: "This data demonstrates that there has been real progress in producing the high quality new teachers that schools are looking for.

"Ofsted has said that this generation of newly qualified teachers is the best ever, and the number of teachers with good degrees is also rising.

"We still need to work hard to help providers find more strong candidates in maths and science and the TDA will continue to campaign vigorously to remind people with degrees and experience in those areas that teaching is intellectually stimulating, exciting and a job in which no two days are the same."