There has been an increase in the number of graduates from Oxford and Cambridge who have taken up teaching posts in state secondary schools, according to new research.

The Sutton Trust report, Teaching by Numbers, revealed that this year, there are approximately 11,000 teachers with a degree from Oxbridge. In 2003, the figure stood at 6,000.

While that suggests significant progress, the paper found that there are still imbalances between independent and state schools in terms of the qualifications of their teachers.

For the former, around one in six professionals have a degree from Oxford or Cambridge. This means they are three times more likely to have such a qualification from either Oxford or Cambridge than their state peers.

Additionally, teachers in secondary independent schools are also more likely to have continued to develop their subject specialism, with one in 15 holding a PhD. Only one in 40 teachers in state secondary schools has a PhD in their subject.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “One of the most important factors in being a good teacher is good subject knowledge.

“Yet in some key subjects access to excellent teachers is too often lacking in state schools. Although today’s figures show that there has been progress over the past few years with better qualified teachers and more from Oxbridge, it’s vital that we do more to ensure that pupils from low and middle income backgrounds are just as likely to access the best teachers as their more advantaged peers.”

The charity says that while it acknowledges that a degree from a preeminent university is not necessarily synonymous with what it takes to be a good teacher, nevertheless, having an expertise in one’s subject is vital for high quality teaching.

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, agreed. Responding to the findings of the report, he said that it is only right that teachers have excellent qualifications under their belt to help pupils achieve high grades.

He continued: “Independent schools have long understood that a teacher with specialised subject knowledge is best equipped to instil enthusiasm for learning in students.

“That is why our schools continue to seek highly qualified graduates who can be trained and developed professionally into first rate teachers. We continue to share this expertise through widespread partnership work with state schools.”

To level the playing field between secondary state and independent schools in terms of the qualifications of their respective teachers, the Sutton Trust has come up with some recommendations.

One of them is to better incentivise graduates from Oxbridge and other top universities to teach in state education. Another is to ramp up efforts to ensure that all state school professionals have a qualification in the subject they wish to teach.

Other measures that would make the education system fairer includes fostering strong partnerships between state and independent schools, whereby the former would benefit from greater access to “well-qualified subject specialists”.