And, despite a cash crisis in classrooms last year, schools recruited an extra 300 teachers last year alone.
Today's teachers can also expect better pay: those at the top of the main scale will be earning '28,000 a year by September 2005 compared with '21,300 in 1997.
"These figures show the government is full steam ahead on reforming the school workforce," he said, "and measures to boost recruitment and reduce workload in the region are taking effect."
Increased
Nationally, the number of teachers has increased by 4,200 since 2003, bringing the total number to 427,800 - 28,600 more than in 1997 and the highest number since 1981.
In the north west, the number of full-time equivalent teacher numbers has increased from 59,300 in 1997 to 62,000 this year. The number of support staff in schools has increased by almost 13,000 since 1997.
"I accept that a number of schools in certain areas faced difficulties last year," said Mr Clarke, "but today's figures confirm that the measures we have introduced to restore stability and certainty to school budgets are addressing this.
"They also prove that last summer's surveys predicting mass teacher and support staff redundancies were wrong."
He said teaching remained a popular and rewarding career choice, attracting people of the highest calibre, with increases in the number of graduates currently on training schemes.
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