Cambridge best for teacher training

The tables, which are in their seventh year, are compiled by Professor Alan Smithers and Dr Pamela Robinson, from the University of Liverpool's Centre for Education and Employment Research.

They are based on institutional profiles by the Teacher Training Agency and assess teacher-training providers on the entry qualifications of their students, Ofsted ratings and future employment statistics.

This is the first time that Cambridge has topped the tables. The Faculty of Education was created in 2001 by the merger of Homerton College and the former School of Education. Since then, Prof Smithers and Dr Robinson commented, "it has gone from strength to strength - eleventh in 2002, third in 2003 and now first".

The news came as the Faculty of Education was celebrating the topping-out of a £9.5m, four-storey building project that will bring everyone together under one roof for the first time when it is completed next year.

Tim Everton, Head of the Faculty of Education, said:

"Obviously, we are absolutely delighted to get this recognition for all the hard work put in by our lecturers and students. We are a relatively new Faculty, having been established just three years ago, and we want to establish Cambridge as a centre of excellence for the training of tomorrow's educators. This news has given us cause for a double celebration, coming, as it did, during the topping-out ceremony for the new Faculty of Education building."

Cambridge's position in the league table reflects the excellent Ofsted grades the Faculty received for all its teacher-training courses, across primary, middle and secondary partner schools within the region, and the fact that many students subsequently take up teaching posts in schools.