There could soon be a shortage of suitable candidates to fill the UK's primary and secondary teaching jobs, an education expert has suggested. 

James Noble-Rogers of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) believes the lack of detail in the government's teacher training plans could hide possible shortages.

He issued a freedom of information request to the government for the data, which outlines how the coalition has allocated the number of trainee places to subjects in secondary or primary education, reports the BBC.

In a letter to the schools minister David Laws, Mr Noble-Rogers said: "This information has been published as a matter of course in the past.

"It should not be necessary in an open democracy for UCET or anyone else to resort to legislation to obtain information of this kind."

The stats also show more teacher training funding will be taken away from universities and given to the School Direct scheme, which aims to provide more hands-on training.

A Department for Education (DfE) spokeswoman responded by stating that the government will publish a more transparent and detailed breakdown of allocations - including subject numbers - within the next few weeks, once confirmation has been provided by universities and schools.

She added the DfE has hit 95 per cent of its recruitment target for the coming academic year and the new School Direct scheme has proved to be very popular among people looking to train for a teacher job.

In August, Professor John Howson of Oxford Brookes University suggested Schools Direct figures pointed to a possible shortage of science and maths teacher specialists in the future.

As someone who has trained for a career in teaching, what do you think about this? Are the figures being used to posture in a row over funding, or is there a genuine problem with the selection criteria or other aspects of the newer Schools Direct training course?

Let us know what you think.