Teachers in state secondary schools rarely or never advise students to apply to Oxbridge, a new survey commissioned by the Sutton Trust has reported.

The poll, which was carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research, revealed that over 40 per cent of teachers are hesitant in recommending academically gifted pupils to consider Oxbridge universities as a choice for further education.

In addition to this finding, the thinktank also discovered that over 60 per cent of teachers "underestimate" how many pupils from state schools are now studying atOxbridge.

According to the poll, a quarter of teachers believe that fewer than 20 per cent of students are enrolled on an undergraduate programme at either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge.

The actual figure is markedly higher – 60 per cent – and in light of this, the Sutton Trust is keen on dispelling these myths and, in turn, encourage more teachers from state secondary schools to support their brightest students apply to Oxbridge and other top universities.

"We all know how important teachers are in guiding their students' choices about where to go to university," said James Turner, director of Programmes at the Sutton Trust said.

"As our polling shows, too few state school teachers consider Oxbridge as a realistic possibility for their brightest pupils. They might not think the students will get in to the universities, or fit in once there, or they may lack the specialist knowledge to prepare their students for the application process."

He went on to say that he hopes that the thinktank's teacher summer schools programme will go a long way to changing that.

"Over the past 17 years we've directly helped thousands of state school students access places at top universities through our summer school programme," Mr Turner continued.

"This scheme will reach 2,500 teachers over five years and will hopefully add to the number of students from less advantaged backgrounds getting places at top universities."