It questions their ability to assess, record and report on how well children in their charge are doing.

And the report also doubts the ability of some teacher training colleges to assess the standard of teaching achieved by their students.

Based on school inspectors' findings and published by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), it also suggests there are wide variations in teaching quality between different secondary subjects.

Particular concerns are raised about weaknesses in the teaching of design and technology and physical education.

'Areas of weakness'

Although inspectors found that most teacher training courses were generally of good quality, a third of all courses needed to make significant improvements.

And 10% of courses failed to meet quality requirements laid down by the Secretary of State for Education.

Ofsted's head of teacher education and training, David Taylor, said: "If teacher training is to play its full part in helping to ensure that all of our children have a high quality education, particular attention needs to be given to improving the areas of weakness and addressing the questions which we have raised."

The report was based on findings from the inspection of more than 500 secondary teacher training courses.