Academic year 2023/24

Further education workforce

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Introduction

This is the third release in the series of annual statistics on the further education workforce in England. The information in this release is based on data collected in the Further Education Workforce Data Collection (FEWDC) and covers the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Not all providers in scope were able to return data for the collection. The figures in this release are therefore estimates based on known data and should be treated with caution.

The proportion of providers returning data this year has increased, compared to the second year of the release, from 80.9% of 1,563 providers in scope in 2022/23 to 85.2% of 1,562 providers in scope in 2023/24. The FEWDC is a mandatory collection, therefore it is expected that in future years coverage will improve beyond that presented in this publication. Improved coverage will improve the quality and accuracy of findings.

This release is badged as official statistics in development, which means that these statistics are undergoing evaluation for quality and user need. If you have feedback, please use the details in the “Contact us” section.

Related information

Releases in this series

View releases (2) for Further education workforce

Methodologies

Headline facts and figures - 2023/24

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About these statistics

Data for the third mandatory Further Education Workforce Data Collection (FEWDC) was collected in September 2024. Data for the 2023/24 academic year was collected from FE providers in scope.

The FEWDC collects information on the further education workforce and vacancies from the following providers:

  • General Further Education Colleges (GFECs), including tertiary colleges;
  • Sixth form colleges;
  • Private sector public funded providers, which includes Independent Training Providers (ITPs);
  • Other public funded providers. This includes some Higher Education (HE) providers, some Local Authority (LA) providers and a small number of University Technical Colleges (UTCs), specialist colleges and 16-19 free schools.

The following further education providers are not in scope:

  • Employer providers - an employer that pays the apprenticeship levy;
  • Schools and academies (including multi-academy trusts) whose staff are included in the Schools Workforce Census;
  • HE institutions who return the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) staff record.

The FEWDC also collects data about governors from GFECs (including tertiary colleges) and sixth form colleges, including designated institutions. 

The data collection was split into three parts, which could be completed separately by further education providers.

1. Further education workforce

A higher proportion of General Further Education Colleges (GFECs) and sixth form colleges returned data, compared to private sector public funded providers and other public funded providers returning data. This means we have a higher confidence in the figures reported for GFECs and sixth form colleges.

The proportion of providers that returned data has increased, from 80.9% of 1,563 providers in scope in 2022/23 to 85.2% of 1,562 providers in scope in 2023/24.

We assess data returned from providers for data quality issues. Where a significant data quality issue exists, data from a provider may not be able to be used for analysis. Overall, we were able to analyse data from 84.9% of the 1,562 further education providers in scope for the 2023/24 FEWDC.

2. Further education vacancies

This part of the data collection relates to teaching and management/leadership vacancies.

The proportion of providers that returned data for the vacancy data collection has increased from 69.9% of 1,563 providers in scope in 2022/23 to 79.8% of 1,562 providers in scope in 2023/24. 

The proportion of providers returning data to this part of the data collection was lower than that of the workforce data collection for all provider types. Throughout this publication we have not attempted to estimate the number of vacancies in providers that have not returned data. This is because it is not possible to determine if the vacancies in the providers that returned data are indicative of the vacancies in the providers that did not return data. 

This means that vacancy figures shown in this release relate to only the 79.8%  of providers that returned data and therefore could undercount the true number of vacancies in the further education sector.

3. Governors

This part of the data collection collected data from GFECs and sixth form colleges about the size and characteristics of their governing bodies. 

Of the 225 colleges in scope for the 2023/24 governor data collection, 92.0% provided data. This is lower than the proportion of GFECs and sixth form colleges that returned data on the staff workforce data collection but an increase from 86.1% from the previous governor collection.

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Size of the further education workforce

Data in this section has been scaled to provide national estimates. Unscaled data are available in the data catalogue.

Data is provided for a staff member's main role. 

From the 2022/23 academic year to the 2023/24 academic year, the headcount of the further education workforce has decreased slightly. The FTE of the further education workforce on permanent and fixed term contracts has increased

Headcount

There were an estimated 203,000 (headcount) staff working in the further education sector in the 2023/24 academic year, which is a slight decrease from 204,800 in 2022/23. 

Most staff were employed by General Further Education Colleges including Tertiary (GFECs) (60.2%) and private sector public funded providers (24.6%).

A higher proportion of the workforce in sixth form colleges and other public funded providers are teaching staff, compared to private sector public funded providers and GFECs.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) is able to provide a more accurate estimate of the size of the FE workforce for staff on permanent or fixed term contracts as it best reflects the varied working patterns that the workforce may have.

FTE is only collected for staff on permanent or fixed term contracts. It is not collected for staff on zero hour, variable hour or other contract types because staff on these contracts will not ordinarily work a regular number of hours per week.

There are an estimated 179,500 headcount staff on permanent or fixed term contracts, up from 178,600 in 2022/23.

There are an estimated 148,400 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff on permanent or fixed term contracts working in the further education sector, up from 147,100 in 2022/23.

A further breakdown is available for FTE of permanent and fixed term staff, for each role and provider type.

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Working patterns and contract types

Providers were asked to report information on an individual's main contract only. 

Data in this section has been scaled to provide national estimates. 

Working patterns

 Working patterns were only collected for staff who had permanent or fixed term contracts. 

In the 2023/24 academic year, two thirds of the workforce  (67.2%) that had permanent or fixed term contracts worked full time, similar to last year (67.1%). The workforce in independent training providers were more likely to work full time than in other provider types.

In the 2023/24 academic year, most of the workforce in leadership, management, teaching or admin roles worked full time:

  • 64.8% of teaching staff worked full time, up from 64.4% in 2022/23;
  • 53.0% of support staff worked full time, down from 53.4% in 2022/23;
  • 74.6% of admin staff worked full time, up from 74.2% in 2022/23;
  • 85.9% of management staff worked full time, the same as 2022/23;
  • 91.9% of leadership staff worked full time, up from 91.5% in 2022/23.

By comparison, ONS  (opens in a new tab) data shows that 77% of working age people (16 to 64 year olds) who were employed in 2021 worked full time and 23% worked part time.

A further breakdown is available for working patterns by provider type and roles.

Contract types

The proportion of staff on permanent contracts has increased over the previous three academic years from 81.9% in 2021/22 to 84.8% in 2023/24. The use of zero hour or other contracts types has decreased over the previous three academic years. The largest decrease is in the use of variable hour contracts. 

Staff in management and leadership roles were most likely to have a permanent contract, and teaching staff the least likely:

  • 80.9% of teaching staff had permanent contracts, up from 79.2% in 2022/23;
  • 84.9% of support staff had permanent contracts, up from 83.6% in 2022/23;
  • 84.7% of admin staff had permanent contracts, up from 83.1% in 2022/23;
  • 96.9% of management staff had permanent contracts, up from 96.4% in 2022/23;
  • 96.9% of leadership staff had permanent contracts, up from 96.3% in 2022/23.

A further breakdown is available for contract types by roles.

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Workforce characteristics

We discuss headcount in this section, rather than Full-time Equivalent (FTE). This is so that we can consider the characteristics of the workforce without differences in working patterns influencing the figures.

Data in this section has been scaled to provide national estimates.

Data is given for a staff member's main role. 

Gender

Gender make up of the further education workforce has remained fairly consistent for the previous three years, and is predominantly (65.5%) female in 2023/24. While this is true across all role types, it is particularly prominent in admin and support roles.

Three out of every five (59.3%) further education teachers are female.

A further breakdown is available for gender by individual provider types and roles.

Ethnicity 

For the previous two years, we have seen an increase in the proportion of the staff choosing to disclose their ethnicity. In 2023/24, 89.4% of staff disclosed their ethnicity, up from 88.7% in 2022/23. A higher proportion of staff disclosing their ethnicity means we can make more accurate estimates about the ethnic diversity of the further education workforce.

Changes in proportions of staff identifying as belonging to each ethnicity from 2022/23 to 2023/24 could be in part due to more staff disclosing their ethnicity this year, as opposed to a change in the ethnic makeup of the further education workforce.

In the 2023/24 academic year, 21.6% of the further education workforce identified as belonging to an ethnic minority group. This increase from 20.6% in 2022/23 could be in part due to more staff disclosing their ethnicity this year.

Some 6.7% of the workforce identified as Asian or Asian British in 2023/24, up from 6% in 2022/23. 7.2% identified as white minority groups, up from 6.7% in 2022/23 and 4.2% as Black or Black British, up from 3.7% in 2022/23.

By comparison, 10.1% of the working age population were recorded as Asian or Asian British, 8.8% white minority groups and 4.4% Black or Black British in the 2021 Census (opens in a new tab).

Staff identifying as belonging to an ethnic minority group are not equally represented at leadership positions, compared to 21.6% of the total workforce belonging to an ethnic minority group. In the 2023/24 academic year, 13.5% of further education leaders identified as belonging to an ethnic minority group. The increase in further education leaders identifying as belonging to an ethnic minority group from 12.3% in 2022/23 could be in part due to more staff disclosing their ethnicity this year. In 2023/24, 3.5% of further education leaders identify as Asian or Asian British and 2.5% as Black or Black British.

A further breakdown is available for ethnicity by individual provider types and roles.

Age

The age breakdown of the FE sector has remained fairly consistent in the previous three academic years. In the 2023/24 academic year, the median age of staff in the further education sector was 46, the same as in 2022/23.

By role:

  • Leadership staff median age was 50, the same as 2022/23;
  • Management staff median age was 47, the same as 2022/23;
  • Teaching staff median age was 47, the same as 2022/23;
  • Support staff median age was 45, the same as 2022/23;
  • Admin staff median age was 42, the same as 2022/23. 

A further breakdown is available for age by individual provider types and roles.

Disability status

This year we have seen an increase in the proportion of the staff choosing to disclose their disability status. In 2023/24, 84.4% of staff disclosed their disability status, up from 83.4% in 2022/23. A higher proportion of staff disclosing their disability status means we can make more accurate estimates about the diversity of the further education workforce.

Changes in proportions of staff identifying as being disabled from 2022/23 to 2023/24 could be in part due to more staff disclosing their disability status this year, as opposed to a change in the disability status of the further education workforce.

In the 2023/24 academic year, 8.0% of the further education workforce identified as having a disability, up from 7.3% in 2022/23. This varied by role with staff in support roles more likely to identify as being disabled (9.5%) than staff in leadership roles (5.1%)

A further breakdown is available for disability status by individual provider types and roles.

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Further education workforce pay

Full-time Equivalent (FTE) salary

What is Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) salary?

FTE salary includes both full time staff as well as part time staff that have had their part time salary scaled up to an FTE salary. 

Which staff have been included in annual salary calculations?

Only staff who are employed on a permanent or fixed term contract have been included in annual salary calculations. Staff employed on zero hours, variable hours, or other contract types are not included in workforce pay calculations. Since staff on these contracts work different hours each year, making an accurate estimate of the annual salary for these staff members is not possible.

Approximately 165,900 (88%) of all individuals recorded in the data collection have a permanent or fixed term contract and were therefore included in FTE salary analysis presented below.

Providers in scope for salary calculations 

The average (median) salary has not been scaled to account for providers who did not return data. Therefore, estimates for provider types with a lower response rate are likely to be less accurate.

Pay by role

In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for members of the workforce on permanent or fixed term for teaching staff was:

  • £36,300 in General Further Education Colleges including Tertiary (GFECs), up from £34,200 in 2022/23;
  • £47,100 in sixth form colleges, up from £44,300 in 2022/23;
  • £31,000 in private sector public funded, up from £29,900 in 2022/23;
  • £38,600 in other public funded providers, up from £35,400 in 2022/23.

For sub groups of private sector public funded or other public funded:

  • £31,200 in Independent Training Providers (ITPs), up from £30,000 in 2022/23;
  • £31,000 in special post-16 institutions, up from £29,000 in 2022/23;
  • £32,400 in local authorities with an education remit, up from £30,800 in 2022/23;
  • £47,100 in school based providers, up from £44,300 in 2022/23.

Further breakdowns are available for:

Pay by region for teaching staff

Pay by region is based on the location of the provider, as recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database. Further education providers may operate across multiple locations and regions. Therefore staff recorded as employed by a provider may not necessarily be working in the region that the college has been allocated to.

Private Sector Public Funded providers have the smallest range of FTE salaries between regions for teaching staff; from £30,000 in South East to £37,800 in London, a 25.9% difference.

Other Public Funded Providers have the largest range of FTE salaries between regions for teaching staff; from £28,300 in East Midlands to £47,700 in London, a 68.6% difference.

A further breakdown is available the the FTE salary of all roles across regions. 

Pay by subject

Average salary has not been reported for subjects with 25 or less teachers on permanent or fixed term contracts since smaller numbers are likely to make the data less representative.

Average salary is based on the main subject that each teacher teaches. 

The top ten highest-paid subjects are all academic subjects.

There was a £17,100 (57.1%) difference between the highest and lowest paid average salary by subject:

  • Teaching staff teaching Philosophy as their main subject had the highest median annual salary of £47,100
  • Teaching staff teaching Retail and Commercial Enterprise as their main subject had the lowest median annual salary of £30,000
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Subjects taught by teaching staff

The Further Education Workforce Data Collection asked providers to select the main subject taught by each member of their teaching staff from a list of options

If a provider cannot allocate a member of their teaching staff to any of the named subjects, they are advised to select “Other” as the main subject taught. The most commonly subject selected for teachers was “Other” (12.1% of teaching staff). 

Data in this section has been scaled to provide national estimates.

Subject types

In the 2023/24 academic year, teaching staff taught the following subject types:

  • 51.0% of teaching staff taught vocational subjects, the same as in 2022/23:
  • 21.9% of teaching staff taught academic subjects, down slightly from 22.4% in 2022/23;
  • 27.1% of teaching staff taught other subject types, slightly up from 26.6% in 2022/23.

A further breakdown is available for subject types taught in each provider type.

Main subject taught

In the 2023/24 academic year, the following subjects were most commonly reported as main subject  taught:

  • Construction, Planning and the Built Environment 5.9%;
  • Health and Care Services 5.8%;
  • Business Management and Administration 5.6%;
  • Engineering and Manufacturing 4.6%;
  • English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)  4.5%.

A further breakdown is available for the main subject taught by teaching staff in each provider type.

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Unfilled teaching and management / leadership vacancies

Vacancy rates have not been scaled

We have not attempted to scale these figures to provide an overall estimate for all providers due to potential bias in the data return.

Unfilled teaching and management/leadership vacancy figures are based only on the 79.8% of further education providers in scope and who returned both the vacancy data collection and the workforce data collection.

What do we mean by unfilled vacancy rate?

The unfilled vacancy rate shows the number of unfilled vacancies by the end of the 2023/24 academic year, per 100 positions.  An example calculation is shown in the methodology. 

Unfilled teaching vacancies

Vacancy figures for 2023/24 are not comparable to those presented for 2022/23.

National

By the end of the 2023/24 academic year 3.9 per 100 teaching positions were vacant.

Sixth form colleges (1.0 per 100) had the lowest unfilled vacancy rate for teaching staff and other public funded providers the highest (5.4 per 100).

Regional

We determined providers' region using the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database. Further education providers may operate across multiple locations and regions. Therefore some vacancies recorded by a provider may not necessarily be for positions in the region that the college has been allocated to. 

Unfilled teaching vacancy rates at the end of the 2023/24 academic year vary by region. 

For sixth form colleges, private sector public funded providers and Independent Training Providers (ITPs), the highest vacancy rate was in West Midlands, for GFECs the highest vacancy rate was in Yorkshire and the Humber, for other public funded providers, special post-16 providers and school based providers, the highest vacancy rate was East of England and finally for local authorities with an education remit, the highest vacancy rate was in South East. 

By subject

We have not attempted to scale these figures up to provide an overall estimate for all providers due to potential bias in the data return.

Subjects taught by 50 staff or less have been excluded from these figures since smaller numbers are likely to make the data less representative.

The subject with the highest rate of teaching positions that were vacant by the end of the 2023/24 academic year were:

  • Economics (11 per 100);
  • Functional Skills (IT) (9.2 per 100);
  • SEND (Communication) (8.1 per 100);
  • Construction, Planning and the Built Environment (7.1 per 100).

Unfilled management and leadership vacancies

Vacancy figures shown in this section relate to only 79.8% of providers. Therefore we have reported vacancy figures as a rate, rather than the number of vacancies. This is because there could be potential bias in the data return. For example, a provider with many/few vacancies may be less/more likely to return data.

National

By the end of the 2023/24 academic year, 2.3 per 100 management and leadership positions were vacant. Sixth Form Colleges (0.9 per 100 positions) had the lowest unfilled vacancy rate for management and leadership staff and Other Public Funded Providers the highest (3.4 per 100).

Regional

We determined providers’ region using the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database. Further education providers may operate across multiple locations and regions. Therefore some vacancies recorded by a provider may not necessarily be for positions in the region that the college has been allocated to.

By region, at the end of the 2023/24 academic year:

  • North East had the highest proportion of leadership and management positions still unfilled for General Further Education Colleges including Tertiary (GFECs) (10.1 per 100)
  • West Midlands had the highest proportion of leadership and management positions still unfilled for sixth form colleges (2.4 per 100).
  • East Midlands had the highest proportion of leadership and management positions still unfilled for private sector public funded providers (1.9 per 100).
  • East of England had the highest proportion of leadership and management positions still unfilled for other public funded providers (17.8 per 100).
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Number of governors

The figures provided here are estimates of the number of governors in General Further Education Colleges including Tertiary (GFECs) and sixth form colleges. Unscaled data are available in the data catalogue.

What is a governor?

College governors are volunteers. Very much like a non-executive director sitting on boards, college governors oversee the operations of an FE institution, as well as the financial performance of the organisation.  They bring their expertise, skills and experience to a college, helping shape the future direction of the institution.

In 2023/24, we estimate that there were 3,700 (headcount) governors serving in colleges, down from 3,800 last year:

  • 3,000 governors in GFECs,
  • 700 governors in sixth form colleges.

Under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (opens in a new tab), the members of the governing body of a college corporation must include staff and students and, in the case of sixth-form college corporations, parents of students under 19. Although this is not a requirement, it is common for the principal/CEO to also be a member of the governing body.

Types of governors

The makeup of governors has remained similar for the previous three academic years.  Nearly three quarters (74.0%) of governors in GFECs were independent governors, which was higher than the 67.4% reported in sixth form colleges. However unlike GFECs, sixth form colleges must have parent governors. In total, parent governors accounted for 6.3% of all sixth form college governors.

Length of time in role

The FE governance guide (opens in a new tab) says in the section on Terms of office (under Recruiting and developing governors): "All the governance codes used by corporations emphasise the value of board membership being refreshed at intervals." 

Just over two thirds (68.3%) of governors had been in their role for four years or less. Sixth form colleges have a higher proportion of governors who have been in their role for 12 years or longer, 10.0% compared to 2.6% in GFECs (including tertiary). This is an decrease from 10.4% for sixth forms and a decrease for GFECs from 2.8% in 2022/23. 

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Governor characteristics

Data in this section has not been scaled to account for colleges that have not responded to the data collection.  This is because we do not have any previously collected datasets about governor characteristics to compare the scaled figures against. Therefore figures provided are for responding providers only. 

Gender

There are more male than female governors in colleges; in 2023/24, 52.3% were male. Since 2021/22, the proportion of governors that are female has slightly increased from 43.0% in 2021/22 to 46.0%.  

Ethnicity 

In the 2023/24 academic year, 18.8% of college governors identified as belonging to an ethnic minority group, up from 18.2% in 2021/22. 

Some 6.8% of governors identified as Asian or Asian British, 4.4% as white minorities, and 4.0% as Black or Black British.

By comparison the 2021 Census (opens in a new tab) shows, 10.1% of the working age population were Asian or Asian British, 8.8% white minority groups, and 4.4% Black or Black British.

Age 

The age breakdown of governors has remained broadly similar in the past three academic years. In the 2023/24 academic year, approximately two thirds of governors (67.3%) in further education colleges were aged 45 or older. Sixth form colleges had a higher percentage of governors in the 16-18 age group, 9.1% compared to 5.2% in GFECs. 

The governing bodies of colleges must contain some student governors. Typically, sixth form student governors will fall into the 16-18 age group , whereas student governors in GFECs are drawn from a wider age range. This is likely to explain why sixth form colleges have a higher proportion of governors in the 16-18 age group, compared to GFECs.

Disability status

In the 2023/24 academic year, 6.0% of governors in further education colleges identified as having a disability, down from 6.4% in 2022/23. A higher proportion of governors in GFECs identify as having a disability (6.0%) compared to sixth form colleges (5.7%). 

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Unfilled governor vacancies

Vacancy rates have not been scaled

We have not attempted to scale these figures to provide an overall estimate for all providers due to potential bias in the data return.

Unfilled teaching and management/leadership vacancy figures are based only on the 92.0% of colleges in scope.

What do we mean by unfilled vacancy rate?

The unfilled vacancy rate shows the number of unfilled vacancies by the end of the 2023/24 academic year, per 100 positions.  An example calculation is shown in the methodology. 

Overall, 6.6 per 100 governor positions were unfilled by the end of the 2023/24 academic year. Sixth form colleges had a higher rate of unfilled governor positions, at 9.3 per 100 positions, compared to 6.0 per 100 in GFECs.

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Help and support

Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

Official statistics in development

These statistics are undergoing a development. They have been developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics and published to involve users and stakeholders at an early stage in assessing their suitability and quality.

They have been produced as far as possible in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Further education workforce statistics and data:

Further Education Workforce Team

Email: FurtherEducation.WORKFORCE@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Fran Elliott

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If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

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