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Student teachers planning to specialise in science should be in high demand when they qualify - campaigners have warned that science teachers are still in very short supply.

A new report by the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) claims that the government is not doing enough to rectify the situation and fails to appreciate how serious it is.

Dr Hilary Leevers, assistant director of CaSE, said: "We were alarmed when Tony Blair recently expressed optimism that 7,500 new science teachers had been hired in a single year."

Ms Leevers went on to explain that these figures included teachers training in a wide range of subjects including technology, engineering and graphics.

Ms Leeves continued: "Frankly, we're tired of complaining that 25 per cent of schools do not have any specialist physics teacher, and there are worrying shortages in chemistry and mathematics too."

A spokeperson for the Department for Education and Skills emphasised that 120,000 more students are taking science related degrees than in 1997-98.

He added: "Thanks to generous bursaries there has already been a 30 per cent increase in the number of new science teachers since 1997 and the number of physics teacher trainees has doubled in the last few years."

The government has highlighted the fact that in the next two years £30 million will be spent to encourage young perople to study science and to help recruit 3,000 extra science teachers into the profession.