Department for Education
Reporting year 2026

Education and training statistics for the UK

Annual data release on schools, pupils, teachers, qualifications gained, education expenditure, further education and higher education in the UK.

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WarningFollowing public consultation, this publication has been updated to reflect  user needs. For a full details on the changes made since the previous release, please review the changes to this publication series section below.

Headline facts and figures

Number of pupils

9,940,139

In 2025/26, maintained schools - decrease of 105,887 from 2024/25

Full-time equivalent number of teachers

563,431

In 2025/26, maintained schools - decrease of 2,113 from 2024/25.

Percentage of 19-64-year-olds with NQF level 4 or above

51%

69% were qualified to level 3 or above and 84% to level 2 or above.

Number of FE students

3,110,055

In 2024/25 - decrease of 760 from 2023/24

  • Pupil numbers in maintained schools decreased by 105,887 (1.1%) in the UK between 2024/25 and 2025/26.
  • Teacher numbers in maintained schools decreased by 2,113 in the UK in 2025/26 compared to 2024/25 driven by a decrease in primary schools. Teacher numbers decreased in Wales and England, but increased in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
  • 51% of 19-64 year olds in the UK were qualified to NQF level 4 or above in Q4 of 2025. 69% were qualified to level 3 or above and 84% to level 2 or above.
  • The total number of students in further education (FE) in the UK remained stable in 2024/25. Student numbers decreased in Scotland and Wales but increased in Northern Ireland and England. 
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Background Information

This release compiles information on education systems across the United Kingdom. Education is devolved in the UK, so each part of the United Kingdom has a separate education system.

In this release, there are sections that focus on the school system: number of pupils and teachers in the 2025/26 academic year. It also includes a section on further education (FE) which presents the number of FE students and the highest qualifications held by adults (aged 19-64) in the UK as of quarter 4 2025 are then displayed.

For the section covering highest qualifications for adults aged 19-64, data is used from the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS) to produce these statistics. Since late 2023, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has taken a series of actions to recover the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and improve its quality, including returning to face-to-face interviewing, increasing respondent incentives, reinstating the sample boost, recruiting additional interviewers and updating the survey weighting. These measures have improved response levels from their lowest point to levels similar to those seen before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Most outputs based on the LFS and APS are now designated as Official Statistics (opens in new tab). Estimates from January to March 2025 onwards include the full effect of improvements to LFS data collection and sampling methods introduced from January 2024. Further changes introduced to increase response levels may continue to have some impact on the survey. While the quality of LFS estimates has improved substantially, some volatility remains, particularly for estimates covering mid-2023 and throughout 2024, and for more detailed breakdowns where sample sizes are smaller. Estimates for smaller population groups, such as young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), are more vulnerable to sampling variability than headline labour market measures. Users should therefore exercise caution when interpreting short-term changes and focus primarily on longer-term movements.

Finally, the publication contains a section that signposts to education statistics across the UK. This approach avoids duplication of statistics published elsewhere and reflects areas where differences between education systems make it difficult to produce comparable UK level figures.  

The following sections are signposted to avoid duplication: Higher Education (HE), Schools, NEET, Pupils to teacher ratios (PTR), Education Expenditure, and Post compulsory institutions.  Qualification headlines are signposted as it is not appropriate to present a direct comparative picture of pupil performance across the UK given different qualifications systems, headline measures and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendance statistics are signposted because they are not directly comparable across the UK nations due to differences in methodology, including frequency of publications, scope, and attendance and absence code definitions.  A dedicated methodology section explains these comparability issues in more detail. 

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Changes to this publication series

The Department for Education regularly reviews its statistical publications to ensure they remain relevant, high quality, and meet user needs. Following a review of the publication, the Department identified that some sections statistics receive limited user engagement, while others duplicate statistics that are available elsewhere.  

Following the Department's proposal to streamline the UK Education and Training Statistics Series, which can be found in Education and Training Statistics 2025 - Release home - Education and training statistics for the UK - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK, a consultation period was held from the 13th of November 2025 to the 1st of April 2026. Users were invited to provide feedback on the DfE's proposed changes. Following the consultation period, no responses were received opposing the proposals and all proposed amendments were subsequently adopted

Where the publication provides new statistics and insights not available elsewhere, we will continue to publish annual statistics. Where content duplicates other publication or receives low levels of engagement, users will be signposted to existing statistical releases.  

The consultation period also provided an opportunity to review Education and Training Statistics and explore the feasibility of expanding the publication to cover other areas of the education system. As a result, a new section on attendance has been added to the publication, containing links to published statistics from all four UK nations. 

Sections of Education and Training Statistics that remain unchanged are: Further Education, Pupils, Highest Qualifications, Teachers and Qualification Headlines (signposted). Sections that have changed and are now signposted are: Higher Education, Schools, NEET, Pupil to teacher ratios (PTR), Education Expenditure and Post compulsory institutions. A new addition to publication is Attendance (signposted).  

 

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Pupil numbers

The number of pupils in maintained schools in the UK decreased by 105,887 (1.1%) in the UK between 2024/25 and 2025/26. A decrease is seen across all four nations, with Wales seeing the largest decrease at 1.4%. Maintained pupils decreased by 1.1% in England, 0.8% in Scotland and 0.8% in Northern Ireland. 

The number of pupils decreased by 1.9% in Primary schools, 1.4% in Nursery schools and 0.3% in Secondary schools at the UK level in state-funded schools.  In contrast, the number of pupils increased by 4.3% in Special schools.

Data on the number of pupils by sex and school type in each part of the UK (and each region of England) is available in the underlying data along with data by age and school type at a UK level.

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Teacher numbers

The overall number of full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers working in maintained schools was 563,431 FTE in 2025/26, a decrease of 2,113 (0.37%) compared to the previous year. 

The decrease in teacher numbers across the UK was driven by Primary schools were the number of teachers decreased by 1.2% (3,195 FTE) and 0.2% (440 FTE) in Secondary schools at the UK level in state-funded schools. In contrast, the number of teachers increased by 3.7% (1,248 FTE) in Special schools and 1.8% (36 FTE) in Nursery schools. 

Maintained teachers decreased by 1.4% (325 FTE) in Wales and 0.4% (1,910 FTE) in England. In comparison, maintained teachers increased by 0.2% (50 FTE) in Northern Ireland and 0.1% (65 FTE) in Scotland.

Teacher Characteristics - Sex

The teaching workforce in maintained schools across the UK is consistently predominantly female. In 2025/26 the teaching workforce in maintained schools across the UK was 75% female. Across the UK 85% of FTE at primary level are female and 64% at secondary level in 2025/26, the same pattern as the previous four years.

Data on the number of teachers by sex and school type in each part of the UK (and each region of England) is available in the underlying data.

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Further education

2019/20 and 2020/21 data covers the months of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). This may have affected enrolment figures and therefore extra care should be taken in comparing and interpreting trends over time. 

Further Education Students 

The total number of students in further education (FE) in the UK remained stable in 2024/25. FE students decreased by 4.2% in Scotland and 2.5% in Wales across the same time period and increased by 1.6% in Northern Ireland and 0.4% in England. 

In 2024/25 females accounted for 54% of FE students across the UK. Whilst there were more female FE students than male FE students, males were more likely to participate in FE at a younger age than females were. 70% of males participating in FE were less than 30 years old. For females this figure was 52%. Additionally, the number of female FE students aged 30 and over was almost double the number of male students (806,160 compared with 423,825). 

Between 2023/24 and 2024/25, there was an increase in FE students at all ages between 16 to 21 with the largest percentage increase at ages 17 and 20 at 5.9% (22330) and 5.8% (5590) respectively. In comparison, there was a decrease in FE students between the ages of 22 to 29 and those under 16 and over 30. The largest percentage decrease was students aged 29 at -5.5% (-2850). 

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Highest qualification for adults aged 19-64

The Data used to produce this section is sourced from the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Labour Force Survey (LFS). Since late 2023, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has taken a series of actions to recover the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and improve its quality, including returning to face-to-face interviewing, increasing respondent incentives, reinstating the sample boost, recruiting additional interviewers and updating the survey weighting. These measures have improved response levels from their lowest point to levels similar to those seen before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

On 11 August 2026, the ONS wrote a letter to the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) regarding the designation of outputs derived from the LFS and Annual Population Survey (APS) (opens in new tab). Most outputs based on the LFS and APS are now designated as Official Statistics (opens in new tab). The ONS will not be seeking reaccreditation of these outputs. Instead, its priority is for outputs based on the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), the online-first replacement for the LFS and APS, to achieve the standards required for accreditation and for OSR to consider their accreditation at the earliest opportunity.

Estimates from January to March 2025 onwards include the full effect of improvements to LFS data collection and sampling methods introduced from January 2024. Further changes introduced to increase response levels may continue to have some impact on the survey. While the quality of LFS estimates has improved substantially, some volatility remains, particularly for estimates covering mid-2023 and throughout 2024, and for more detailed breakdowns where sample sizes are smaller.

Estimates for smaller population groups, such as young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), are more vulnerable to sampling variability than headline labour market measures. Users should therefore exercise caution when interpreting short-term changes and focus primarily on longer-term movements.

Please note that these statistics are rounded to 0 decimal places.

Across the UK, an estimated 84% of adults aged 19-64 have a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 2 (e.g. GCSE grade 9-4/A*-C, National 5 grade A-C) or above. This decreases to an estimated 69% with NQF level 3 (e.g. A Levels, T Levels, Highers) or above and an estimated 51% at level 4 (e.g. higher apprenticeship) or above (e.g. higher national diploma, degree apprenticeship, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate). A higher percentage of females than males are qualified to each of these levels. The age group with the highest percentage qualified for NQF Level 2 or above is 25–29-year-olds (89%). For NQF Level 3 or above this is 25-29 and 30-39 year olds (76% respectively). For NQF Level 4 the age group with the highest level of qualification is 30-39 year olds (61%).  

 

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Signposts to Education Statistics Across the UK

This section signposts to existing statistics published by the four UK nations. The areas covered in this section are:

  • Attendance
  • Qualification headline measures
  • Higher Education (HE)  
  • Schools 
  • NEET (not in education, employment or training)
  • PTR (pupil teacher ratio)
  • Expenditure
  • Post compulsory institutions 

Attendance 

Statistics on pupil attendance at school in each nation are dependent on national policy decisions and context. Most notably, authorised parental or family holidays are not possible in England and Northern Ireland but can be recorded in Scotland and Wales. There are also differences in statistics of interest in each national context. While England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all use a 10% threshold to measure persistent absence, some nations may report on different levels (e.g. 50% for severe absence in England) or publish fuller distributions of absence rates (e.g. England, Scotland and Wales).  

England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all publish both (a) timely data on pupil attendance, currently ranging from fortnightly to monthly, usually based on management information systems, and (b) later, more robust, official statistics on absence, currently ranging from termly to annually.  

The latest statistics for each nation can be found below: 

England: 

Wales: 

Scotland:

Northern Ireland: 

Differences in codes, definitions, pupil cohorts (by ages or stages), and school types in scope impact the comparability of these statistics between countries. Overall attendance authorised absence and unauthorised absence levels are not directly comparable across the UK. Broad comparisons of relative change in trends over time can be drawn, as methodologies within nations remain consistent over time. More specific and direct comparisons can be drawn for some individual reasons for absence. Further information is available in the methodology note.

Qualification headline measures 

Given the different qualifications systems and headline measures, it is not suitable to present a direct comparison of pupil performance across the UK.  

Published qualifications data can be found at the relevant sources for each part of the UK and each level of education: 

England:

Scotland:

Wales:

Northern Ireland: 

Higher Education (HE)

Statistics on higher education students are available in the Higher Education Statistics Agency publications (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (HESA). 

Schools 

Statistics for schools are available via each devolved government’s own statistical publications: 

England: 

Scotland: 

Wales: 

Northern Ireland: 

NEET (not in education, employment or training)

The latest UK statistics for those not in education, employment or training (NEET) are available at Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) - Office for National Statistics (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab).  

PTR (pupil teacher ratio)

Statistics for pupil to teacher ratios (PTRs) are available via each devolved government’s own statistical publications:  

England: 

Scotland: 

Wales: 

Northern Ireland: 

Expenditure 

UK statistics for education expenditure are available in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses publication series (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab). It is important to note that the education expenditure totals published in PESA are not directly comparable with the education expenditure totals previously presented in Education and Training Statistics. This is because Education and Training Statistics excluded expenditure classified as "education not definable by level", whereas PESA includes this expenditure in its totals. 

Post compulsory institutions 

The number of post-compulsory educational institutions is available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and Association of Colleges websites:  

 

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Education and training statistics for the UK statistics and data:

International evidence and statistics team

Email: InternationalEvidence.STATISTICS@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Amal Abdullahi

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

Public enquiries

If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Phone: 0370 000 2288

Opening times

Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)

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