But the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) also says that its survey of selected training colleges found that "common weaknesses" persist.

The report concentrates on the teaching of reading and basic maths in primary schools.

Just eight colleges out of the 80 in the survey had one or more departments graded as "poor".

Ofsted inspectors found that the introduction of government literacy and numeracy initiatives had "substantially improved trainees' teaching methods and classroom organisation".

Most training courses now recognised the importance of the phonics method in teaching reading - in which children learn to construct words from the sounds of letters - although training in this method was still a "clear weakness in a minority of courses".

Inspectors also found that most courses offered effective training in "accurate, rapid mental calculation", but a "significant minority of training providers do not audit trainees' subject knowledge effectively, monitor its improvement or assess it rigorously at the end of the course".

'No justification'

The report concludes: "The majority of trainees teach effectively, manage classes well, establish very good relationships with pupils and seldom have problems with discipline."

It adds that "most trainee teachers have adequate or better subject knowledge of reading and numbers, although some common weaknesses persist".

The biggest weakness lay in teachers' abilities at the end of their training courses to assess, record and report children's performance.

Professor Ted Wragg of Exeter University, a long-standing critic of Ofsted, said the £1m survey was a waste of public money as it had come just a year after the watchdog published a report on primary teacher training in English and maths.

"If the first inspection was OK, why bother with another. If it wasn't, why wasn't it?" he said.