The number of teachers at work in England has hit a 20 year high, according to statistics out today.

Figures show there are 9400 more full-time equivalent regular teachers in post than in January 2001 - a 2.3 per cent increase - taking the total to 419,600.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Gerald Imison, deputy general secretary of the ATL, told ePolitix.com: "Statistics can hide many painful facts. The situation may appear better, but in many schools there are still vacancies - there are still teachers teaching subjects for which they are not properly qualified and there are still vacancies being covered on a temporary basis, often through agencies.

"The government statistics are likely to hide many instances where children's education is suffering because of the constant change of teachers. Overall numbers are one thing but shortage subjects mean that for some children the vacancies are effectively much much higher.

"Not only do we need more teachers, teaching needs to be seen as a profession worth committing to long-term rather than a short-term step to something else. The challenge for the Government is to make teaching attractive, both financially and in terms of the quality of life that a teacher should be able to enjoy."

Forum Response: Professional Association of Teachers

Alison Johnston, senior professional officer at PAT, told ePolitix.com: "We welcome the apparent rise in teacher numbers, but there is still a crisis in both recruitment and retention.

"We are still losing too many teachers from the profession and not recruiting enough new ones. Almost a third of newly qualified teachers do not continue in the classroom. The government must ask itself why and do more to address the fundamental issues - such as pay, working conditions and pupil behaviour - that are contributing to the recruitment and retention crisis.

"The teaching profession needs a crystal clear pay structure, which rewards progress and achievement across the board in all subjects, rather than potentially discriminatory perks. In an ideal world, teachers would enter the profession because they are motivated to influence future generations, not simply to pay off their debts - desirable as that may be.

"The average starting salary for teachers still lags behind other graduate starting salaries. This makes teaching financially unattractive for many new graduates - especially when many house prices are so high. As a nation we also need to face up to wider social issues such as pupil indiscipline and general anti-social behaviour, developing closer partnerships between schools, parents and local and national government."