Reporting year 2024

School workforce in England

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Introduction

This release is largely based on the School Workforce Census (SWC). The census, which runs each November, collects information from schools and local authorities on the school workforce in state-funded schools in England.

Independent schools, non-maintained special schools, sixth-form colleges and further education establishments are not included in the SWC.

This release includes information on teaching and support staff, their characteristics, teacher retention and pay, qualifications and details of the subjects taught in secondary schools.

We present some breakdowns of this data in the text below, and more detail is available via the table tool or downloading the data files.

This year alternative estimates of teacher pay have been added to this publication having been published separately last year. This alternative estimate uses Teacher Pension Scheme (TPS) data which is retrospectively updated with any pay decisions that were backdated to before the census date in November each year. It is intended to provide an estimate that is more representative of teachers' pay after the award is fully implemented.

Related information

Releases in this series

View releases (15) for School workforce in England

Methodologies

Headline facts and figures - 2024

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  • Data catalogue

    Browse and download open data files from this release in our data catalogue

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Additional supporting files

All supporting files from this release are listed for individual download below:

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The size of the school workforce

This section primarily discusses full-time equivalent (FTE) rather than headcounts. FTE best reflects the varied working patterns in the workforce.

As at November 2024 (2024/25), 985,800  FTE staff worked in state-funded schools in England. Of these, nearly half (48%) were teachers.

Teachers 

The FTE number of teachers decreased marginally to 468,300 in 2024/25. This is a fall of 400 (<0.1%) from last year, and an increase of 26,900 (6%) since 2010/11. Headcount of teachers also fell; by 500 to 513,400 in the latest year. School phases saw different trends with the number of teachers, which aligns with changes in the pupil population, moving from primary to secondary phase (see the Department's pupil projections release for further information):

  • Nursery and primary school teacher FTE decreased by 2,900 (1.3%).
  • Secondary school teacher FTE increased by 1,400 (0.7%).
  • Special and PRU teacher FTE increased by 900 (3.2%).

Most teachers held qualified teacher status (97%); the same as previous years. Teachers may be undertaking further qualifications during their employment to gain qualified teacher status.

The type of school in which teachers worked was split evenly between nurseries/primary and secondary schools; 46% (215,600) of teachers worked in nurseries and primary schools, 47% (219,000) in secondary schools, 6% (29,200) in special schools and state-funded alternative provision schools including PRUs. 1% (4,500) were centrally employed by a local authority.

Further information on numbers of teachers in the UK, including non-maintained schools in England, can be found in the Education and Training Statistics for the UK  accredited official statistics.

Support staff

Support staff FTE has increased each year since 2019/20, to 517,500 in 2024/25, passing the previous peak of 2015/16. This is an increase of 7,100 (1.4%) since last year. This is mainly due to an increase of 5,900 teaching assistants.

More support staff work part-time than is the case for teachers, this results in very different numbers for FTE and headcount. Around half of technicians and other school support staff, 6 in 10 administrative staff, 8 in 10 teaching assistants, and 9 in 10 auxiliary staff work part time. School business professionals (4 in 10) and leadership non-teachers (3 in 10) are less likely to work part time.

Two thirds (65%) of teaching assistants work in nursery and primary schools, and 17% work in special schools and pupil referral units. The majority of technicians work in secondary schools, 94%.

Information on support staff was collected in the school workforce census for the first time in 2011/12. Please follow this link to FTE for support staff by role. 

Occasional teachers and third party support staff

The school workforce census does not identify supply teachers or support staff. However, teachers and support staff who are not directly employed by the school or local authority and who are in school on census day (early November each year) with a contract or service agreement lasting fewer than 28 days are recorded as ‘occasional’ teachers and ‘third party support staff’ respectively.

In November 2024, schools reported 17,600 occasional teachers (headcount) on census day. This is up from the previous year when 15,800 were reported. Headcount by Qualified Teacher Status is available in the data catalogue for each individual school.

In November 2024, schools reported 52,200 third party support staff (headcount) on census day. This is up from the previous year when 48,500 were reported. Headcount by post is available in the data catalogue for each individual school.

Educational Psychologists

The school workforce census asks local authorities to report the number of educational psychologists they employ. This does not include where the service has been outsourced or shared between local authorities. For information on the data collection and limitations, please see this publication’s methodology. The headcount and FTE of these educational psychologists, by local authority, is available in the data catalogue.

In November 2024, local authorities reported employing 2,700 educational psychologists (2,200 FTE) on census day. This is up on the previous year, 2,600 (2,100 FTE). Data by local authority and working pattern is available to download from the data catalogue.

Independent schools

Data on teachers in independent schools, collected in the separate School Level Annual School Census (SLASC) are presented in the data catalogue and Table Tool for the first time. School level data cover the headcount and FTE of teachers by working pattern and sex. FTE teachers by sex in independent schools are already published at national level in Education and Training Statistics for the UK  accredited official statistics.

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Teacher characteristics

This section presents key teacher characteristics. Further breakdowns of teacher characteristics (such as by grade, school phase, qualified teacher status and working pattern) are available to download from the data catalogue, or you can create your own tables in the table tool via the green ‘Explore data’ buttons.

We discuss headcount in this section, rather than FTE. This is so that we can consider the characteristics of the workforce without differences in working pattern influencing the figures.

Sex

Sex makeup of the teaching workforce is consistent over time and is predominantly female; 76% in 2024/25. 

Male teachers are more likely to work in secondary schools than nurseries and primary schools: 14% of nursery and primary school teachers are male, 35% of secondary school teachers, and 24% of teachers in special schools and state-funded alternative provision schools including PRUs.

Proportionally, female teachers are less likely than their male counterparts to be in leadership positions (head teachers, deputy heads, assistant heads), however this difference has reduced over time. In 2024/25, 70% of leadership teachers were female, up from 66% in 2010/11. This compares to 77% of classroom teachers in 2024/25 and 76% in 2010/11. For a deeper analysis of teacher characteristics in leadership positions see School leadership in England 2010 to 2020: characteristics and trends. (opens in a new tab)

Ethnicity

The ethnic diversity of the teacher workforce continues to increase, with 16.8% of teachers identifying as belonging to an ethnic minority group, up from 11.2% in 2010/11. Within the 16.8% identifying as belonging to an ethnic minority group, white minorities accounted for 5.4 percentage points.

The proportion of teachers who identify as Asian or Asian British has increased by 2.6 percentage points since 2010/11, to 5.8% of the workforce. Over the same period, Black or Black British has increased by 1.0 percentage points to 3.1% and Any Other Mixed Background by 1.1 percentage points to 1.9%.

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

Teachers identifying in an ethnic minority group are not equally represented at leadership positions (heads, deputy heads, assistant heads). In 2024/25, 16.2% of White British, 11.3% of White Minorities, 9.6% of Black or Black British and 8.1% of Asian or Asian British teachers were in leadership positions. These rates have increased over time; in 2010/11, 13.9% of White British, 9.1% of White Minorities, 8.1% of Black or Black British and 6.5% of Asian or Asian British teachers were in leadership positions. For a deeper analysis of ethnicity in teacher leadership positions see School leadership in England 2010 to 2020: characteristics and trends. (opens in a new tab)

Age

The age of the teacher workforce aligns with trends in newly qualified entrants to teaching and changes in retirement policy. Broadly speaking, this was demonstrated by the workforce getting younger between 2010/11 and 2017/18. Since then, older age groups have increased in proportion.

For a deeper analysis of teacher age and experience see School leadership in England 2010 to 2020: characteristics and trends. (opens in a new tab)

Disability

Schools are asked to provide information on the number of staff that report themselves as disabled. However, information on disability was not obtained by schools for 59% of teachers in the November 2024 census. Where information was provided, this suggests 3% of teachers are disabled, however, this may not truly reflect the real position given the large amount of missing data.

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Support staff characteristics

Support staff are categorised into posts of teaching assistants, administrative staff, auxiliary staff, technicians and other supporting staff, plus posts of school business professional and leadership non-teacher which were reported for the first time in 2023/24.

School business professionals include roles such as bursar, business manager, finance officer, office manager, premises manager or ICT network manager. Leadership non-teachers are members of the school's senior leadership team who are not reported in a teaching post. These new posts displaced reporting from other posts, particularly administrative staff.

This section presents key support staff characteristics. Further breakdowns of staff characteristics (such as by school phase /type and working pattern) are available to download from the data catalogue, or you can create your own tables in the table tool via the green ‘Explore data’ buttons.

We discuss headcount in this section, rather than FTE. This is so that we can consider the characteristics of the workforce without differences in working pattern influencing the figures.

Support staff post

The number of teaching assistants has increased almost every year since 2011/12 (when information on support staff was first collected in the census), from 221,500 to 288,800 in 2024/25 (up 30%). The numbers of teaching assistants and other school support staff are the highest since the inclusion of support staff in the school workforce census in 2011/12.

Technicians and auxiliary staff have decreased each year since 2013/14 and 2015/16, respectively. The new reporting of school business professionals in 2022/23 primarily reduced administrative staff figures, but decreased technicians and auxiliary staff as well.

More support staff work part-time than is the case for teachers, this results in very different numbers for FTE and headcount. Approximately 9 in 10 auxiliary staff, 8 in 10 teaching assistants, 7 in 10 leadership non-teachers, 6 in 10 administrative staff and school business professionals, and 5 in 10 technicians and other school support staff work part time.

Over two thirds (69%) of teaching assistants work in primary schools, with 16% in secondary schools and 15% in special schools and state-funded alternative provision schools including PRUs. The majority of technicians work in secondary schools, 92%. 

Sex

School support staff are predominantly female, however there are differences by post. 94% of administrative staff are female, 92% of teaching assistants, 89% of other support staff, 74% of auxiliary staff, 82% of leadership non-teachers and 70% of school business professionals. Technicians are more evenly split on sex (55% female).

Ethnicity

The ethnic diversity of the support staff workforce continues to increase. 

Auxiliary staff were the most diverse, with 9.4% identifying as Asian or Asian British, 5.1% as white minority and 3.2% as Black or Black British.

In the 2021 Census (opens in a new tab), 10.1% of the working age population were Asian or Asian British, 8.8%  white minority groups and 3.4% Black or Black British.

Teaching assistants - the largest support staff group - are shown in the chart below to demonstrate increasing ethnic diversity.

Age

The proportion of support staff aged 40-49 has decreased over time, from 38% in 2010/11 to 27% in 2024/25. Over the same period, the 30-39, 50-59 and 60+ age groups have increased and the youngest age groups of under 25 and 25-29 have remained stable. 

Teaching assistants - the largest support staff group - have seen an increase in the 60+ age group and are shown in the chart below to demonstrate age changes in the workforce.

Disability

Schools are asked to provide information on the number of staff that report themselves as disabled. However, information on disability was not obtained by schools for 60% of support staff in the November 2024 census. Where information was provided, this suggests 3% of support staff are disabled, however, this may not truly reflect the real position given the large amount of missing data.

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Pupil to teacher ratios (PTR)

Pupil to teacher ratios (PTRs) are the number of pupils reported in the January School Census divided by the number of teachers reported in the November School Workforce Census. This demonstrates the size of the workforce in relation to the size of the learner population. An increase in PTR means that there are more pupils per teacher. 

The Schools, pupils and their characteristics publication provides class size which is an average of class size as reported by individual schools. This best demonstrates the reality of teaching provision in schools.

There were 20.8 pupils for every one nursery and primary school teacher in 2024/25. This is the same as last year, and lower than the peak of 20.9 seen in 2017/18 to 2019/20. 

There were 16.7 pupils for every one secondary school teacher in 2024/25. This is slightly down from 16.8 last year, following an upwards trend since 2013/14. 

The primary population peaked in 2018/19 and is projected to continue to drop to the end of the projection period in 2028, whilst the secondary population began rising in 2015/16 and is projected to increase until 2024 then slowly begin to drop (see the Department's pupil projections release for further information).

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Entrants, leavers and changes in working pattern

The rates and numbers of entrants and leavers to the state-funded teaching profession in England have decreased this year. 

Each year, the number of teachers entering state-funded schools in England is higher than those leaving. In the most recent year there were 520 FTE more entrants than leavers. This, coupled with existing staff overall reducing their working pattern and an increase in teachers without qualified teacher status, means that the overall FTE of teachers has decreased by 400 FTE.

Further breakdowns of this information, including by age, ethnicity, gender, teaching post, type of entrant/leaver, school type and working pattern are available to download from the data catalogue, or you can create your own tables in our table tool via the green “explore data” buttons.

Entrants

41,700 FTE teachers joined the state-funded school sector for 2024/25, down 1,400 since last year. This represents 1 in 11 (9.2%) of all qualified teachers.

Newly qualified teachers make up a similar proportion of entrants this year (41%) to last year, but have decreased again this year to 17,000. This decrease of newly qualified entrants corresponds with the Initial Teacher Training Census from the 2023/24 academic year. Returners have increased, but deferred newly qualified entrants and entrants new to the state funded sector have decreased. 

Entrants have decreased in both primary and secondary school phases, however the trends in entrant types differ. In primary schools there has been a decrease in all entrant types except returners which has a small increase. In secondary schools newly qualified entrants have increased, but other entrant types have decreased. 

Leavers 

41,200 FTE teachers left the state-funded sector in 2023/24, a decrease compared to 42,600 in 2022/23 (1,300 fewer). This represents 1 in 11 (9.1%) of all qualified teachers. 

The majority (91%) left due to leaving the state-funded sector in England, for example due to a change of career or joining other UK education sectors. The rate of teachers leaving due to retirement continues to decrease.

Teacher retirements in this section of the release relate to teachers who have received a pension award at or before the date they leave service, i.e. they have left service to move directly into retirement. Further information on pension awards made under the Teachers' Pensions Scheme can be found in a later section of this release.

Changes to working pattern

The number of teachers who enter and leave the profession are not the only factors that impact FTE qualified teacher numbers over time; changes in the numbers of hours worked (working pattern) also has an impact.

In 2024/25, 4.4% of qualified teachers increased their working hours and 6.0% decreased their working hours. These changes in working pattern produced a net decrease equivalent to 2,530 FTE qualified teachers since last year. Last year, in 2023/24, these percentages were 4.8% and 5.7% respectively, equating to a net decrease of 2,050 FTE.

Teacher turnover within schools

A new file within the Data Catalogue and Table Tool provides school level data on the number of full-time equivalent teachers who, by the following year, either remain in that school, move to another state school or leave the state-funded system.

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Teacher retention

Retention rates for teachers increased for both the newest teacher cohort who qualified in 2023 and second year retention for those who qualified in 2022, while decreasing for most earlier cohorts compared to the equivalent measure last year.

Retention increased during the COVID-19 pandemic which is believed to be due to changing career plans for some individuals. The pandemic period affects figures relating to the data between 2019 and 2021.

  • Almost 9 in 10 (89.7%) teachers who qualified in 2023 are still teaching one year after qualification,
  • Almost three quarters (73.2%) of teachers who qualified three years ago are still teaching, 
  • Over two thirds (67.6%) of teachers who qualified five years ago are still teaching, 
  • Almost 6 in 10 (57.0%) teachers who qualified ten years ago are still teaching.

A longer timeseries is available using the green ‘Explore data’ button below.

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Teacher vacancies

Teacher vacancies (full and part-time) decreased to 2,200 in November 2024, having more than doubled in the previous three years; from 1,100 in November 2020 to a peak of 2,800 in November 2023. The rate - which takes into account changes in the teaching population -  also decreased to 5 per 1,000 teachers in service, from 6 per 1,000 teachers in 2023.

The number of temporarily filled classroom teacher posts followed a similar pattern over the same period.

Further breakdowns of teacher vacancies, including by school, grade and subject taught (for classroom teachers in secondary schools) are available to download from the data catalogue, or you can create your own tables in our table tool via the green ‘Explore data’ button.

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Teacher pay

This section contains estimates of median teacher full-time equivalent pay in state-funded schools in England and breakdowns by school phase, teacher grade, gender and region using Teacher Pension Scheme (TPS) data. It covers the academic years 2010/11 to 2024/25.

In previous years this publication used the School Workforce Census (SWC) as the data source for teacher pay statistics and the TPS data was published separately last year. This year alternative estimates from the TPS data have been used instead. TPS data is administrative data collected in the process of managing the contributions of teachers and their employers to their pensions. Unlike the SWC data, which provides a snapshot of data on the census date, the TPS data is retrospectively updated with any pay decisions that were backdated to before the census date in November each year. The TPS pay medians are intended to provide a more representative estimate of teachers' pay for the academic year compared to SWC pay medians. Please see the methodology section for more detail and a comparison of median pay from the two data sources. The SWC data remains available within the table builder tool with the historical views available as featured tables. 

We welcome feedback on these statistics and ask that comments are provided to the team via the details in the “Contact Us” section below.

In addition, each year there are workforce changes which mean comparisons between years are not comparing like-for-like. For example, each year teachers retire and are replaced by newly qualified teachers. These more experienced teachers, many of whom will have been in leadership roles, will have been on higher salaries than those who are new to teaching. 

Median teacher pay is based on gross pay, including allowances and not adjusted for inflation. The latest statistics are salaries for the academic year 2024/25 and do not include the latest 4% pay award for 2025/26. Note that salaries are not adjusted for inflation over time. 

The average (median) teacher FTE salary for the academic year 2024/25 was, by grade: 

  • Classroom teacher average salary was £48,892, an increase of 6.3% since 2023/24.
  • Head teacher average salary was £83,464, an increase of 5.5% since 2023/24.
  • Other leadership teacher (excluding headteachers) average salary was £66,919, an increase of 5.5% since 2023/24.

For further information on school and LA expenditure, including spend on teaching, please see the latest expenditure publication.

Median teacher pay by school phase

Average salaries vary by teacher grade, school phase and school type. For all teachers, regardless of grade, median pay for:

  • Primary school teachers was £49,037 in 2024/25, an increase of 6.6% since 2023/24.
  • Secondary school teachers was £52,475 in 2024/25, an increase of 5.5% since 2023/24.
  • Special school teachers was £51,763 in 2024/25, an increase of 5.5% since 2023/24.

Median teacher pay by sex, grade and school phase

There are differences by sex in the grades of teachers; female teachers are less likely than their male counterparts to be in leadership positions. Therefore these statistics consider teacher grade and school phase when comparing differences by sex in average pay. For more information on differences in teacher pay by teacher characteristics see Teacher Pay and Progression: Differences by Teacher Characteristics (opens in a new tab).

Male and female teacher salaries are broadly similar in most cases, apart from classroom teachers in secondary (males earn 2% more) and head teacher salaries in secondary (males earn 5% more).

Median teacher pay by region

In 2024/25, all regions outside of London had a median teacher salary of £49,084. Median teacher pay for Inner London was £58,806 and for Outer London was £53,994.

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Teacher qualifications

The publication of statistics on types of teacher qualifications and specialist teachers has been delayed due to a data quality issue. Updated statistics will be published in due course with an explanation of nature and size of any impact on the statistics.

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Subjects taught and specialist teachers in secondary schools

Timetabling information collected on the curriculum delivered is provided by a large sample of secondary schools. They are asked to provide information on a typical week in their school. This is weighted to produce national level figures. Where teachers have both timetabling information and qualifications data these can be combined to show whether teachers have relevant post-A level qualifications in the subjects they are teaching. For further details, please see the Methodology section. 

The publication of statistics on types of teacher qualifications and specialist teachers has been delayed due to a data quality issue. Updated statistics will be published in due course with an explanation of nature and size of any impact on the statistics.

3 in 5 secondary school teaching hours (63%) were for English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects of mathematics, English, all science subjects (including computing), modern foreign languages, history and geography. This has been the same proportion since 2020/21 and up from 54% in 2011/12.

Over two thirds (70%) of secondary school subject teachers taught at least one EBacc subject.

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Teacher sickness absence

In the 2023/24 academic year, 65.7% of teachers took sickness absence, with an average of 8.3 days of sickness for each of these teachers. 

These figures relate to sickness absence only and do not include non-attendance due to reasons such as maternity leave and career breaks.

The Office for National Statistics have published statistics on sickness absence (opens in a new tab) in the UK which show that there has been an increase in sickness absence since 2020, and the highest levels of sickness absence are in female workers, plus those in caring, leisure and service occupations. Whilst not directly comparable due to differences in methodology, this broadly aligns with what we see reported in the school workforce census.

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Teachers' Pensions Scheme

In addition to identifying teachers who left service due to retirement, it is possible to identify teachers and ex-teachers who started to receive pension benefits from the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (TPS) (opens in a new tab). These benefits may be awarded during service or sometime after the teacher has left service and information includes pensions from outside of the state-funded school sector, such as further and higher education establishments who are members of the TPS. The number of awards may be revised for each past year as late applications for pension benefits are processed. Therefore, these figures differ to figures presented of leavers due to retirement.

The number of people starting to receive teacher pensions under the TPS each year is higher than the number of teachers retiring from service (for reasons explained above). In the financial year 2011-12, 21,629 teachers received their first award of pension benefits, this has decreased steadily to 5,662 in 2023-24.

This change coincides with a period of rising state pension age, particularly for women (76% of teachers are women). In 2010 the state pension age for women began increasing from 60 until it equalised with men at 65 in 2018, it then increased to 66 in 2020.

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Methodology

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

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Accreditation signifies their compliance with the authority's Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
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Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about School workforce in England statistics and data:

Teachers and teaching statistics team

Email: schoolworkforce.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Tony Clarke
Telephone: 0774 7767329

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