THE teaching industry last night dismissed Government claims that a staffing crisis affecting schools was easing.

Education and Skills secretary Estelle Morris said there were now 9,400 more teachers in schools than this time last year.

Provisional figures released by the Department for Education and Skills also showed that teacher vacancies for all English schools were down by 490 to 4,480 in the year ending January.

The North-East still has 130 posts waiting to be filled, but this too had dropped by 0.1 per cent on the previous year.

Last night teachers, unions and education chiefs from across the region joined forces to protest that the figures did not paint a true picture.

Keith Mitchell, Durham County Council's director of education, said: "A problem does exist with teacher shortages, and it is getting worse.

"This is particularly the case when it comes to recruiting secondary teachers for specialist subjects like maths and modern languages.

"The willingness of other teachers to pick up the extra work created by vacancies and arrangements allowing for supply teachers often mask the true extent of the problem."

Wellfield Community School, in Wingate, County Durham, is advertising nationally in an attempt to fill ten teaching posts in history, religious education, maths and science.

Headteacher Jennifer Elliott said vacancies in maths and science, which it had carried over from last year, were causing particular difficulties.

Mrs Elliott said: "We would expect colleagues seeking promotion to be moving on at this time of year. But we are still experiencing problems and are not alone in that."

Elaine Kay, principal officer for the northern region with the National Union of Teachers, said the problem facing schools was often retaining newly-qualified teachers.

Government incentives such as help with training fees in shortage subjects, and retention allowances, aimed at keeping teachers, were not enough.

She said: "We get a lot of students coming out of college and lose them after three or four years because of the conditions they have to work in.

"Government figures do not always give a true picture as many posts are having to be filled by non-specialists.