Teacher numbers in Oxfordshire are rising - but not as fast as in the rest of the country.

The number of full-time teachers went up by 0.5 per cent in the county to 4,105 last year. Nationally, there has been a 1.3 per cent rise this year and the Government says that this is the biggest increase in 16 years.

Teaching unions claim the increase is due to rising pupil numbers and new rules, which dictate that infant classes must have no more than 30 pupils.

Despite a national rise in teacher vacancies, the latest figures in Oxfordshire show there has been a slight fall from 90 empty posts last summer to 88 last term.

Geoff Branner, Oxfordshire Secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, is a teacher at Lord Williams's School, Thame.

He said: "Almost certainly there are more teachers but that is because of the reductions in class sizes and the fact that pupil numbers have been rising since this Government's term of office. If you have more children then you need more teachers. It is a question of finding them.

"Here at my school, we advertised for an English teacher. We had four applications and the head thought only one was suitable to interview."

Brenda Williams, secretary of the Council of Oxfordshire Teachers' Organisations, said: "I have not noticed an increase in teachers in schools. Only this morning I received an e-mail from a teacher in a local school saying that there were three vacancies there this term. I would dispute the accuracy of the Government's figures."

John Mitchell, Oxfordshire's education spokesman said: "There are increasing difficulties in filling posts because of the present teacher shortage and that is a big issue for us and other authorities. We have a number of strategies in place to tackle that."