School workforce in England
Annual statistics on teachers and support staff (TAs) in England. Age, sex, ethnicity, pupil teacher ratio (PTR), retention, pay, subject taught and absence.
- Published
Headline facts and figures
FTE progress towards 6,500 additional teachers pledge
4,654
This combines secondary schools, special schools and further education.
6,500 additional teachers
This data combines school workforce statistics and further education workforce statistics for data monitoring against the government target. Further education (FE) includes FE colleges and FE school based providers. The target is measured against 2023.
Pupil to teacher ratio
17.9
broadly stable from 18.0 in 2024
Pupil to teacher ratio
The full-time equivalent number of pupils divided by the full-time equivalent number teachers (qualified and unqualified).
FTE of all workforce
984,610
1,500 fewer than 2024. Excludes further education settings.
FTE school workforce
Full-time equivalent all staff
FTE of all school teachers
466,372
1,900 fewer than 2024. Excludes further education settings.
FTE school teachers
Full-time equivalent qualified and unqualified teachers in all state-funded schools. Not all teachers are included in the 6,500 additional teachers pledge.
FTE of teaching assistants
295,183
6,200 more than 2024. Excludes further education settings.
FTE teaching assistants
Full-time equivalent for teaching assistants.
FTE number of entrants
41,012
800 fewer than 2024
FTE entrants
Full time equivalent of qualified teachers joining state-funded schools.
FTE number of leavers
38,632
2,100 fewer than 2024
FTE leavers
Full time equivalent of qualified teachers leaving state-funded schools.
Teacher vacancy rate
0.4%
4 per thousand teachers in service
Types of vacancies
Full and part-time teacher vacancies
Median teacher pay
£51,048
a 4% increase from 2024/25
Median
Median = If you were to put all teacher salaries in order, this is the salary in the middle of that list.
Teacher retention one year after qualification
89.7%
broadly stable from 89.9% for the 2023 cohort
Qualifying Cohort
This is the retention rate of teachers who qualified in 2024.
The government, in its opportunity mission, has set a pledge to recruit 6,500 additional teachers. Further information on this ambition can be found in the 6,500 additional teachers delivery plan (opens in new tab). Latest figures show an increase of 3,000 secondary and special teachers since 2023/24 which contributes to this target. Combined statistics across schools and further education show an increase of 4,654 against this 6,500 target.
- There are 466,400 FTE teachers, this is a decrease of 1,900 (0.4%) from last year which includes:
- 212,800 in state-funded nursery and primary schools, a decrease of 2,900 (1.3%), in the context of a decreasing nursery and primary pupil population.
- 218,500 in secondary, a decrease of 500 (0.2%), in line with the secondary pupil population starting to decline.
- 30,300 in special and Pupil Referral Units, an increase of 1,100 (3.9%), in the context of a continued increase in the special schools pupil population.
- 4,800 centrally employed teachers, an increase of 300 (6.3%).
- There are 295,200 FTE teaching assistants, which is an increase of 6,200 since last year and an increase of 73,200 since 2011 when the census began collecting support staff information.
- Pupil to teacher ratios are similar to last year: 20.7 pupils per teacher in nurseries and primary schools (slightly down from last year), 16.7 in secondary schools (the same as last year) and 6.6 in special and PRU schools (the same as last year).
- 9 in 10 teachers remain teaching in state-funded schools in England one year after qualification.
- Teacher vacancies and temporarily filled posts decreased in November 2025, having peaked in November 2023.
- Average (median) pay for school teachers is £51,048. This differs by school phase with £50,474 for primary school teachers, £53,773 for secondary school teachers, and £53,835 for special school teachers.
The size of the school workforce
The government, in its opportunity mission (opens in new tab), has set a pledge to recruit 6,500 additional teachers. Further information on this ambition can be found in the 6,500 additional teachers delivery plan (opens in new tab).
The pledge is for mainstream secondary schools, special schools, further education (FE) colleges, and FE school based providers over the course of this Parliament. The pledge does not include primary schools, where the pupil population has been declining.
School Workforce official statistics and Further Education workforce official statistics are the main data sources to monitor progress against this pledge. To do so, full-time equivalent (FTE) teacher figures need to be assessed across both publications and compared with the baseline as per the pledge definition (opens in new tab).
Trends in teachers and the school workforce should be set in the context of changes in the pupil population by school type. Pupil demographics change over time due to a variety of reasons, including birth rates. The number of primary school age children peaked in 2018/19 and this peak has moved through to, and out of secondary school age. Subsequently, the number of secondary school pupils peaked in 2024/25 and has now begun to decrease. The number of teachers in primary and secondary schools has broadly followed the same trend, with the number of primary school teachers decreasing since 2020/21 and secondary school teachers slightly decreasing in 2025/26. It is recommended that class size and pupil to teacher ratios are used to understand the interaction between pupil demographics and the teacher 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 2025 (2025/26), 984,600 FTE staff worked in state-funded schools in England. Of these, nearly half (47%) were teachers.
Teachers
The FTE number of teachers decreased to 466,400 in 2025/26. This is a fall of 1,900 (0.4%) from last year, and an increase of 24,900 (5.6%) since 2010/11. Headcount of teachers also fell; by 1,400 to 512,000 in the latest year.
School phases saw different trends in the number of teachers, which aligns with changes in the pupil population, where a decline in births is moving from primary to secondary phase:
- Nursery and primary school teacher FTE decreased by 2,900 (1.3%), in the context of a decreasing nursery and primary pupil population,
- Secondary school teacher FTE decreased by 500 (0.2%), in line with the secondary pupil population starting to decline,
- Special and PRU teacher FTE increased by 1,100 (3.9%), in the context of a continued increase in the pupil population in state-funded special schools.
Detailed information on trends in the pupil population can be found in the Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics release.
The government, in its opportunity mission, has set a pledge to recruit 6,500 additional teachers. Further information on this ambition can be found in the 6,500 additional teachers delivery plan (opens in new tab). The pledge is for mainstream secondary schools, special schools, further education (FE) colleges, and FE school based providers; it does not include primary schools. Latest figures show an increase of 3,000 secondary and special teachers since 2023/24 which contributes to this target.
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% (212,800) of teachers worked in nurseries and primary schools, 47% (218,500) in secondary schools, 6% (30,300) in special schools and state-funded alternative provision schools including PRUs. 1% (4,800) 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 518,200 in 2025/26. This is a marginal increase of 400 (<0.1%) since last year. Whilst teaching assistants saw an increase of 6,200 from last year all other roles saw a decrease, the largest decrease of 3,800 from last year was in auxiliary staff.
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 (63%) of teaching assistants work in nursery and primary schools, 18% work in secondary schools, and 18% work in special schools and pupil referral units.
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 2025, schools reported 20,500 occasional teachers (headcount) on census day. This is up from the previous year when 17,700 were reported. Headcount by Qualified Teacher Status is available in the data catalogue for each individual school.
In November 2025, schools reported 52,200 third party support staff (headcount) on census day. This is remains the same to the previous year. 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 2025, local authorities reported employing 3,000 educational psychologists (2,300 FTE) on census day. This is up on the previous year when it was 2,700 (2,200 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 available in the data catalogue and Table Tool. 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.
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 2025/26.
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 2025/26, 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 new tab)
Ethnicity
The ethnic diversity of the teacher workforce continues to increase, with 17.4% of teachers identifying as belonging to an minority ethnic group, up from 11.2% in 2010/11. Within the 17.4% 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 2.8 percentage points since 2010/11, to 6.0% of the workforce. Over the same period, Black or Black British has increased by 1.1 percentage points to 3.0% and Any Other Mixed Background by 1.3 percentage points to 2.1%.
In the 2021 Census (opens in 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 2025/26, 16.1% of White British, 11.3% of White Minorities, 9.3% of Black or Black British and 7.8% of Asian or Asian British teachers were in leadership positions. 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 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 new tab)
Disability
Following improved guidance to schools and enhanced validation within the data collection, the response rate increased to 84% of teachers in 2025 (with a further 11% refusing to respond and 5% of information not yet obtained), up from 41% in 2024. Among those who provided information, 4% reported being disabled.
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 295,200 in 2025/26 (up 33%). The number of teaching assistants is 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.
Sex
School support staff are predominantly female, however there are differences by post. 94% of administrative staff are female, 93% of teaching assistants, 89% of other support staff, 85% of auxiliary staff, 82% of leadership non-teachers and 72% of school business professionals. Technicians are more evenly split on sex (59% female).
Ethnicity
The ethnic diversity of the support staff workforce continues to increase.
Auxiliary staff were the most diverse, with 10.0% identifying as Asian or Asian British, 5.3% as white minority and 3.4% as Black or Black British.
In the 2021 Census (opens in 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 decreased from 38% in 2010/11 to 27% in 2021/22 and has stabilised at 27% since. Staff aged 50-59 have decreased from 32% in 2021/22 to 28% in 205/26. Over this period, the 30-39 and 60+ age groups have increased whilst the youngest age groups of under 25 and 25-29 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
Following improved guidance to schools and enhanced validation within the data collection, the response rate increased to 85% of support staff in 2025 (with a further 11% refusing to respond and 4% of information not yet obtained), up from 40% in 2024. Among those who provided information, 3% reported being disabled.
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. When trends in teachers align with trends in pupil population, this results in a stable PTR.
The Schools, pupils and their characteristics publication also 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 20.7 pupils per teacher in nursery and primary schools in 2025/26. This is slightly lower than in 2024/25 (20.8) and below the recent peak of 20.9 seen in 2017/18 to 2019/20.
There were 16.7 pupils per teacher in secondary schools in 2025/26. This is unchanged from 2024/25 and slightly down from the peak of 16.8 in 2022/23 and 2023/24 following an upwards trend since 2013/14.
The primary population peaked in 2018/19 and is projected to continue declining through to the end of the projection period in 2030. In contrast, the secondary school population has begun to decrease in 2025/26 after a peak in 2024/25, and is projected to continue declining (see the Department's pupil projections release for further information).
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 2,400 FTE more entrants than leavers.
Further breakdowns of this information, including by age, ethnicity, sex, 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 “explore and download data” menu.
Entrants
41,000 FTE teachers joined the state-funded school sector for 2025/26, down 800 since last year. This represents 1 in 11 (9.1%) of all qualified teachers.
Newly qualified teachers make up a similar proportion of entrants this year (40%) to last year, but have decreased again this year to 16,300. This decrease of newly qualified entrants does not correspond with the Initial Teacher Training Census from the 2024/25 academic year. Returners have increased continuing the trend seen since 2021/22, but deferred newly qualified entrants 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 newly qualified entrants including deferred, returners and new to state funded sector entrants saw a small increase. In secondary schools newly qualified entrants have marginally increased, but other entrant types have decreased.
Leavers
38,600 FTE teachers left the state-funded sector in 2024/25, a decrease compared to 40,700 in 2023/24 (2,100 fewer). This represents 1 in 12 (8.5%) 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 has remained consistent.
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 2025/26, 4.2% of qualified teachers increased their working hours and 6.2% decreased their working hours. These changes in working pattern produced a net decrease equivalent to 2,950 FTE qualified teachers since last year. Last year, in 2024/25, these percentages were 4.4% and 6.0% respectively, equating to a net decrease of 2,530 FTE.
Teacher turnover within schools
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.
Teacher retention
Please note that these retention statistics track newly qualified teacher cohorts and are not year on year retention rates.
Retention rates for teachers marginally decreased for the newest teacher cohort who qualified in 2024 compared to the cohort that qualified in 2023. The second year retention for those who qualified in 2023 increased when compared to those who qualified in 2022.
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 2024 are still teaching one year after qualification,
- Three quarters (75.8%) of teachers who qualified three years ago are still teaching,
- Two thirds (67.4%) of teachers who qualified five years ago are still teaching,
- Almost 6 in 10 (57.7%) teachers who qualified ten years ago are still teaching.
A longer timeseries is available using the green ‘Explore data’ button below.
Teacher vacancies
Teacher vacancies (full and part-time) decreased to 1,600 in November 2025 from 2,200 in November 2024, having more than doubled 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 4 per 1,000 teachers in service, from 5 per 1,000 teachers in 2024.
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.
Teacher pay
This section contains estimates of mean and median, full-time equivalent, teacher gross pay, which includes allowances. These pay estimates use data from the Teacher Pension Scheme, with teachers’ characteristics being linked from the School Workforce Census. More detail can be found in the methodology section.
Note that salaries are not adjusted for inflation over time.
The average (median) teacher FTE salary for the academic year 2025/26 was, by grade:
- Classroom teacher average salary was £51,047, an increase of 4% since 2024/25.
- Head teacher average salary was £86,803, an increase of 4% since 2024/25.
- Other leadership teacher (excluding headteachers) average salary was £69,596, an increase of 4% since 2024/25.
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 £50,474 in 2025/26, an increase of 6% since 2024/25.
- Secondary school teachers was £53,773 in 2025/26, an increase of 4% since 2024/25.
- Special school teachers was £53,835 in 2025/26, an increase of 4% since 2024/25.
Median teacher pay by region
Teacher pay in England varies by location, with four main pay regions: Inner London, Outer London, the London Fringe and the rest of England. The London pay regions do not perfectly correspond with the statistics regions. Median pay across non-London regions is typically the same or similar, as the rest of England shares one pay scale.
In 2025/26, all regions outside of London had a median teacher salary of £51,048. Median teacher pay for Inner London was £62,496 and for Outer London was £56,154.
Median pay by years since qualification
Median pay increases with years since qualification, with notable annual increases in the first 5 years since qualification. Teachers with 5 years since qualification have a median pay over £10k higher than those with 1 year since qualification. Overall, 21-30 years since qualification has the highest median pay of £59,916.
Teacher qualifications
Data was collected on qualifications at Level 4 and above (post-A level equivalent) for 494,200 teachers out of the 512,000 teachers (headcount) in service in 2025/26. This means at least 96.5% of teachers hold a post A Level qualification.
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.
Subject Hours Taught
3 in 5 secondary school teaching hours (63%) were in mathematics, English, all science subjects (including computer science), modern foreign languages, classical Greek and Latin, history, and geography (EBacc), the same as 2024/25, and up from 54% in 2010/11. A total of 3.5 million hours were taught across all subjects, this has been a similar figure each year since 2020/21.
Specialist Teaching in Secondary Schools
Almost 9 in 10 (86.8%) of hours taught across all subjects were taught by a teacher with a relevant post-A level qualification. This varies by individual subject but in each case, the majority of hours taught are by a teacher with a relevant qualification.
Teacher sickness absence
In the 2024/25 academic year, 61.8% of teachers took sickness absence, with those teachers taking an average of 8.1 days of sickness each.
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 new tab) (opens in new tab) in the UK which show that the sickness absence rate (proportion of days lost) of UK workers has returned to pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, the School Workforce Census shows that the proportion of teachers taking sickness absence remains higher than before the pandemic, at around 8 percentage points above the levels recorded between 2015/16 and 2018/19.
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 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, 21,600 teachers received their first award of pension benefits, this has decreased steadily to 6,000 each in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
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.
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.ukContact name: Tony Clarke
Telephone: 0774 7767329
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If you have a media enquiry:
Telephone: 020 7783 8300
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