There has been a sharp rise in the number of pupils excluded from secondary schools, taking the annual total to more than a third of a million.

But teachers' leaders are angry that more than 100 pupils successfully appealed against their exclusion and were allowed back into their classrooms. Headteachers said this was undermining their attempts to instil discipline in schools.

There were 343,840 exclusions last year, a 4 per cent rise on the previous year and the equivalent of one in every 10 pupils, national statistics pubished yesterday showed. The number of permanent exclusions for serious disruptive behaviour or assault fell by 3 per cent to 9,440.

Jim Knight, the Schools minister, said the increase showed headteachers were cracking down on persistent low-level disruption in the classroom - identified by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog, as one of the biggest threats to order in the classroom.

The proportion of successful appeals against exclusion rose by 9 per cent to about a quarter, with 130 out of the 240 pupils involved being reinstated.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "I find it astonishing and worrying that more than half of successful exclusion appeals result in the pupil being returned to the same school. Heads need and deserve better support than this if they are to maintain the standards of discipline that society expects. It is undermining schools' ability to discipline."

David Willetts, the shadow Education Secretary, said it was "disturbing" that so many appeals were successful.

"How can you possibly maintain order when a child you have expelled from your school wins an appeal and is back in your classroom?

"It is not fair on teachers or the vast majority of children who are at school to learn without being distracted by a badly behaved minority."

The figures showed that boys were four times as likely to be excluded as girls - and that pupils aged 12 to 14 were the most likely to be affected. The average length of time for an exclusion was 3.5 days.

Mr Knight said the rise in fixed-period exclusions reflected the tough approach schools were taking to address bad behaviour.

"They are using the short, sharp shock of a suspension to nip problem behaviour in the bud and this is helping to stop it escalate to the point where permanent exclusion becomes necessary."

New measures would be introduced in September compelling parents to ensure their children stayed at home for the first five days of an exclusion, Mr Knight said. Schools would be be told to set homework for pupils to stop them roaming the streets and fines of £50 would be imposed on parents if they allowed them to do so. "We want to stop fixed-term exclusions being seen by some as an unofficial holiday," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers called on ministers to classify mobile phones as potentially offensive weapons and to ban them from schools. Chris Keates, general secretary, of the NASUWT, told a meeting of a government task-force aiming to stamp out cyber-bullying in schools that they were being used by pupils to denigrate their teachers on internet sites such as ratemyteacher.

Fiona Pearce already had a degree from Oxford University when she applied to drama school at the age of 20. But the gruelling application process was far more nerve-wracking than her interviews to gain entry to one of the most prestigious universities in the country.

Now, statistics confirm her experience is a common one. Britain's leading drama schools are almost twice as difficult to access than Oxford or Cambridge universities, according to research revealed to The Stage newspaper. The Conference of Drama Schools (CDS), which comprises 22 theatre training centres, showed that the ratio of applicants to places offered by its members is almost double that for Oxford and Cambridge.

After making it past the initial 3,000 applicants, Ms Pearce, now 23, faced hours of theatre exercises in a group workshop, followed by a panel interview and two more auditions to gain a place among the 30 students chosen for the undergraduate year at the Central School of Speech and Drama. "The physical work was two hours long and incredibly intensive, with many people sweating by the end," she said. "I remember an applicant did a Hamlet piece and the tutor asked him to do it again, but with another grown man lifted on his back.

"It was an incredibly tough process. A lot of people found it psychologically and emotionally testing. In the interview, they really wanted to probe very deeply and tended to ask personal questions to try to provoke you. I was much more nervous during my drama school application than for Oxford because it meant more to me so the stakes were higher." After applying to six drama schools, she gained entry to two following an interview process that took nearly nine months.

Statistics released from 21 of Britain's main drama schools showed that 11,184 applicants competed for 1,550 places last year - meaning one in seven got a place. This compares to one in four successful applicants to Oxford and Cambridge. Christian Burgess, head of acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, said that the school had to enforce a cut-off point after receiving 1,600 applications as tutors did not have the capacity to interview any more applicants every year.

"It's not uncommon for us to receive applications from students with many A stars at GCSE and A-level and a first from Oxford but equally, there are successful students with very little in the way of formal qualifications," said Mr Burgess. "It is far more difficult to qualify acting intelligence. What we look for is a mixture of qualities, which aside from innate talent, include curiosity, courage, a sense of humour, a real hunger and an ability to work closely with other people, as an ensemble."

Ross Brown, head of the undergraduate school at the Central School of Speech and Drama, said it selected an intake of 45 students from an application pile of 4,000. "Although our A-level requirements are relatively low, applicants have to demonstrate a grown-up interest in acting, as well as physical fitness and an intelligence that can deal with the relatively intellectual task of interrogating a text, researching character and working as part of a company," he said.

The old school is still an invaluable asset in getting one of the top jobs, according to a report published today.

Britain's private schools may only educate 7 per cent of the country but their former pupils still have a stranglehold over more than half of the best jobs.

The findings emerge from a survey by the Sutton Trust, the education charity which campaigns to get more students from deprived backgrounds into the leading universities. It looked at the leading 100 people in five professions - judges, politicians, journalists, medics and chief executives, taking its information from Who's Who.

The results show that 53 per cent of them were educated at private schools while only 17 per cent came from comprehensives, which educate about 90 per cent of the country.

But there are signs that - apart from journalism, where the influence of the private sector is growing - their numbers have fallen slightly when compared with 20 years ago.

In addition, the stranglehold of Oxford and Cambridge graduates on top jobs is diminishing - from 61 per cent 20 years ago to 47 per cent now. Dr Lee Elliot Major, director of research at the Sutton Trust, said: "This analysis shows that the school you attend at 11 has a huge impact on your life chances, and particularly how likely you are to reach the top of your chosen profession.

"We are still to a large extent a society divided by wealth, with future elites groomed at particular schools and universities - while the educational opportunities available to those from non-privileged backgrounds make it much more difficult for them to reach the top."

A breakdown of the figures shows that judges are most likely to have gone to a private school (70 per cent), while 28 per cent went to grammar schools. Only two per cent come from comprehensive schools - down from 6 per cent 20 years ago.

However, journalists are the only category where the overall percentage of those in top jobs from private schools has risen over the past 20 years - from 49 per cent to 54 per cent. The percentage from state comprehensives has risen, though, from 6 per cent to 14 per cent.

Politicians, it appears, are the most representative of the nation - with only 38 per cent coming from a private school background (compared with 46 per cent two decades ago) and 36 per cent from comprehensives (compared with 22 per cent). In medicine, 51 per cent came from private schools - exactly the same as in 1987.

As for the chief executives of the top 100 companies in the FTSE, 54 per cent came from private schools (compared with 70 per cent two decades ago) atage).r cent from comprehensives (double the previous percentage).

Oxford and Cambridge had the biggest hold on judicial and media jobs - 78 per cent of judges had been to one of the two universities and 56 per cent of journalists. Only 15 per cent of medics had, though.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the trust, said: "The first priority should be to improve our underperforming state schools but we also need to recognise we have a socially selective school system. The top 20 per cent of our secondary schools - independents, grammars and leading comprehensives - are effectively closed to those from non-privileged backgrounds."

"We should open up independent days schools to children from all backgrounds on the basis of merit alone.''

Only 2 per cent of grammar school pupils are entitled to free school meals - the traditional indicator of poverty - compared with 14 per cent nationally.

Hundreds of teachers will be sacked and even face deportation this summer as a result of a tightening of overseas qualifications in schools.

The crackdown will affect staffing at some of the country's most challenging inner-city schools - making it difficult to fill posts, according to teachers' leaders.

The Government plans to insist that every teacher has the UK-recognised Qualified Teacher Status within four years of starting work here or face the withdrawal of their work permit. In the past, they have been allowed to continue working if they are already on a programme - or carry on as an instructor rather than a teacher.

The National Union of Teachers is already dealing with 172 cases of teachers who have either been told there will be no job for them in September or face the sack this summer. Some have been here for more than 10 years. Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the union, said those affected faced "a very serious injustice", adding: "Whether or not this injustice is intentional is irrelevant to teachers facing redundancy and enforced removal."

Tim Harrison, regional officer for inner London, said he believed there were "several hundred" cases in London alone.

One teacher, Shauner Murray, who has been teaching humanities in east London for the past four years, is being forced to fly back to Jamaica today, because she does not have the right qualification. She managed to complete a degree despite becoming pregnant during her stay - but could not finish a teacher training course in time to avoid losing her work permit. The agency that hired her never told her she needed to improve her qualifications. "It is the human side of it that gets to you," she said. "After all the efforts of coming over to Jamaica to recruit us, we are then treated like outsiders."

Other cities - many of which have relied on overseas teachers to staff their schools - face a similar problem to London.

NUT officials said it was a "scandal" that the UK - after being criticised for trawling Commonwealth countries such as South Africa and Jamaica and poaching their teachers - should plan to throw them out of the country. Those who come from countries where teachers do not need a degree face the biggest problem. They have to pay full overseas rates to enlist for their degree courses.

However, some from Australia and New Zealand - who need only for their teaching standards to be assessed because they already have a degree - have also been caught out.

Some teachers, particularly those from Zimbabwe, will get no co-operation from their governments if they ask them to supply details of their qualifications, and face persecution if sent back.

"In some cases, these teachers have been in the system for five years," said Mr Harrison. "In the first year, they have been too busy to get the qualification getting to grips with working in the school. Some of the most challenging schools will be facing the loss of talented teachers as a result of this."

Teachers' leaders are planning to lobby Parliament next month.

In evidence to the Department for Education and Skills, the NUT says: "Overseas trained teachers who have been granted work permits are working in schools only because there is a real need for teachers which cannot be met by the domestic workforce. In many cases, particularly in London and the South-east, they have been the 'glue' that has held schools together, such has been their reliance on overseas trained teachers as the main source of staffing."

The NUT says it is not against the four-year qualification period - but believes the crackdown should be delayed so all existing overseas teachers have a chance to obtain it.

A spokeswoman for the newly named Department for Children, Schools and Families said the four-year period had been introduced six years ago and the Government was just making "absolutely certain everyone knows their rights and responsibilities".

Nenneitah Miles, science teacher: 'The system makes it difficult'

Nenneitah Miles is just the kind of teacher the Government is looking for.

A science teacher specialising in teaching those pupils struggling to keep up in class, she is dedicated and skilled enough to be able to give them one-to-one teaching or teaching in small groups if they need it.

The only trouble is that she is an overseas teacher starting her fifth year of teaching in the UK and could become one of the hundreds of teachers about to lose their jobs.

Mrs Miles, who teaches science at Sydney Russell school in Dagenham, east London, hails from Jamaica - where she did not need a degree to become a teacher. She has been studying for one in Britain - but has been unable to complete it within the four-year period the Government is planning to rigidly insist upon.

It is hardly her fault. As a non-European teacher, she has to pay the full cost of her degree course and had to put it on hold for seven months when the teaching agency she was working for could not supply her with regular work. After a series of jobs she was sent to Sydney Russell where she was given the job of teaching difficult youngsters out of school - in small groups of two or three.

"The school was impressed with what I did," she said, "so I got the opportunity to take full classes." She has applied for a permanent position but her lack of Qualified Teacher Status means she has not got the post. However, the school has no qualms about her teaching quality and has invited her to continue working with them from September.

Her plight is not as bad as some - her immigration status gives her the right to stay even if she may not be able to teach. "I would really love to continue - but the system just makes it more difficult."

The role of Shakespeare in the teaching of English at Oxford University may be downgraded as part of a proposal that has provoked outrage among scholars and thespians.

A document seen by The Independent reveals that, for the first time, in-depth examination of the works of the Bard would no longer be compulsory for English literature undergraduates.

The prospect of one of England's finest seats of learning putting less emphasis on the work of England's most significant literary figure sent shockwaves across the worlds of the arts and academia. The idea is expected to cause further outrage among teaching staff if it is put to a vote in the autumn.

But Professor Richard McCabe from Merton College, who is chair of the working party which produced the paper, said: "I don't myself see any problem with the Shakespeare paper. I think that the question is really how best to examine all papers in Oxford. We are considering the whole course in relation to the mode of examination."

The proposal came about as a result of concerns in certain quarters within the English Faculty that the Shakespeare module placed a " disproportionate burden" on teaching staff. Final-year undergraduates study all 36 of Shakespeare's plays. But under the new proposals uncovered by The Independent, the faculty working party has suggested that his works should no longer be studied in isolation. This would see them rolled in alongside a range of literature written between 1509 and 1642, a period which includes Spenser, Donne, Milton and Marlowe.

In terms of the examination system, this means students could avoid altogether answering questions or filing coursework on the Bard. In the words of the proposal paper, the man who