The ‘Teacher and Leader Development: ECF and NPQs’ is classified as ‘Official Statistics in Development’. It was first published in July 2022 and reports on the numbers of early career teachers (ECTs) and mentors participating in the Early Career Framework (ECF) induction, as well as teachers and leaders starting National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) in each academic year, starting from 2021/22, in England. The publication also reports on ECT retention for ECF induction programme participants along with all the NPQs outcomes for participants who began in the academic years 2021/22 and 2023/24.
Teacher and leader development: ECF and NPQs
- Published
Summary
Data sources
Teacher CPD Digital Service dataset
The department holds management information on ECF-based training based on early career teachers (ECTs) and mentors registering their details on the manage training for early career teachers service (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab). The service is for ECTs working, or due to start work, in England as well as mentors assigned to work with ECTs during their induction training. The service does not include details of all ECTs who are based at a school that designs and delivers its own training based on the ECF. Lead providers submit information to the department to confirm that ECTs and mentors are actively engaged with the ECF induction training.
The department holds management information on NPQs registrations based on teachers and leaders signing up for an NPQ on the register for an NPQ service (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab). Lead providers submit information to the department to confirm that teachers and leaders have started their NPQ course, whether they have completed their course, and if they’ve completed, what their outcome is (pass/ fail).
The data for ECF-based training, and the data for NPQs is accurate as of 13th June 2025 for NPQs and ECF. Any changes to the data after that date are not taken into account.
Database of Qualified Teachers
Previously, the Database of Qualified Teachers (DQT) held information on the teachers that have completed or are currently undertaking their induction. These records are now held by DfE (hereafter referred to as induction period data). The data are used to identify all ECTs who started their induction since the academic year 2021/22 and ensure inclusion of ECTs who are based at a school that designs and delivers its own training.
School Workforce Census
The School Workforce in England publication is predominantly based on information provided by schools and local authorities as part of the annual School Workforce Census (SWC), introduced in 2010. The SWC collects a broad range of characteristics data, such as gender, age, ethnicity, and disability. It also collects contract information such as grade, post or role, qualifications data, pay data, and hours worked of those whose individual level data is collected. For full information on SWC content, please see the census guidance (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab).
The SWC collects information on school staff from all state funded schools in England. This includes staff working in:
- Local authority-maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools.
- Academies: free schools, university technical colleges, studio schools, city technology colleges, and pupil referral units.
- Local authority centrally employed teachers and support staff who spend more than half their working time in schools. Please note that it is not possible to identify which type of institution these individuals work in.
The census does not collect information from:
- Independent schools.
- Non-maintained special schools.
- Other further education colleges (FE).
- Some former FE funded sixth form colleges which are now classed as academy schools are excluded.
The SWC is linked to the Teacher CPD Service dataset using the unique Teacher Reference Number (TRN). These data sources are used to:
- Identify what proportions of ECTs appearing in the SWC and currently undertaking their induction, are doing the provider-led, or the school-led ECF-based training programme.
- Provide information on the individual level characteristics of ECTs in the SWC who are doing the provider-led ECF-based training programme.
- Provide school and individual level breakdowns of the total teaching workforce.
- Identify whether a teacher is retained into subsequent years.
Get Information about Schools
Get Information about Schools (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) (GIAS) is the Department for Education’s register for several organisation types and where information on other organisations is recorded and maintained. GIAS is linked to the Teacher CPD Service dataset using the establishment's Unique Reference Number (URN). GIAS data is used for allocating schools into overarching establishment types to produce breakdowns of the key metrics by school type and geography. The only exceptions are special free schools, academy special converters, and sponsor led schools, which are classed as special schools, rather than free schools or academies.
Data collection and processing
Once registered by their school induction tutor on the DfE’s Manage training for early career teachers (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) service, early career teachers (ECTs) and mentors were asked to provide their Teacher Reference Number (TRN), date of birth, and National Insurance number (optional).
NPQ applicants registered their own details with the DfE Register for an NPQ (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) service, providing their Teacher Reference Number (TRN), date of birth, and (optionally) National Insurance number.
The registration details were passed to training providers along with a unique training ID. If a training provider could provide sufficient evidence that a participant had engaged with the training programme, the provider made a declaration against the participant record in the DfE service.
These provider declarations were sampled to ensure that providers held evidence for all declarations made.
For ECF, the cohort period runs from declarations made between 1 July to 30 June for ECTs and 1 June to 31 May each year for mentors.
ECF-based induction
The Teacher CPD Service dataset contains information on the number of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) who are undertaking the ECF-based induction training as well as mentors who are trained and assigned to work with ECTs during their induction training. The service does not include details of all ECTs who work at a school that designs and delivers its own training based on the ECF; these ECTs are covered by the induction period data held by DfE (see Data Sources) and the School Workforce Census (SWC).
ECF-based induction
ECTs who started their ECF-based induction are identified in the CPD Digital Service data and induction period data from 2021/22 to 2024/25. (see Data Sources)
Overall ECF participants:
- The total numbers of ECF participants who started the ECF based-induction programme were calculated by including all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service or induction period data as having started provider-led or school-led ECF-based induction training between 2021/22 to 2024/25. School-led participants must appear in the SWC to be counted.
- The cumulative number of ECF participants by cohort was calculated using the same inclusion criteria outlined above. The data was grouped by cohort and then cumulatively summed on a year-to-year basis to reflect the aggregated volume of ECF participants up to a given year from 2021/22 to 2024/25.
- The total number of ECF participants who started the provider-led induction was calculated by including all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started provider-led ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25.
- The total number of ECF participants who started the school-led induction was calculated by including all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service or induction period data as having started school-led ECF-based induction from 2021/22 to 2024/25 and who are present in SWC.
- The number of ECF participants who started the provider-led induction pending confirmation was calculated by including all participants in the Teacher CPD Service dataset who had started ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25, have an undeclared provider-led status in the Teacher CPD Service dataset and are present in SWC.
- The percentage of ECF participants the provider-led induction was calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started the provider-led ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
- The percentage of ECF participants the school-led induction was calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started the school-led ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25 and who also appeared in the 2024 SWC.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
Overall ECTs in SWC:
- The total number of ECTs in SWC was calculated by including all participants in the Teacher CPD Service data or induction period data who had started ECF-based induction training for both provider-led and school-led from 2021/22 to 2024/25 and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant.
- The cumulative number of ECTs by cohort was calculated using the same inclusion criteria outlined above. The data was grouped by cohort and then cumulatively summed on a year-to-year basis to reflect the aggregated volume of ECF participants up to a given year from 2021/22 to 2024/25.
- The total number of ECTs who started the provider-led induction was calculated by including all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started provider-led ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25 and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant.
- The total number of ECTs starting the school-led induction was calculated by including all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service data or induction period data as having started school-led ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25 and who also appear in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant.
- The number of ECTs for provider-led with pending confirmation was calculated by including all participants in the Teacher CPD Service dataset who had started ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25, have an undeclared provider-led status in the Teacher CPD Service dataset and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant.
- The percentage of ECTs starting the provider-led induction was calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started the provider-led ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25 and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
- The percentage of ECTs starting the school-led induction was calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started the school-led ECF-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2024/25 and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
- The percentage of ECTs for Provider led with pending confirmation was calculated as following:
- The numerator includes all participants in the Teacher CPD Service dataset who started an ECF-based induction training, have an undeclared provider-led status, and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
These figures are broken down by region as well as school-level and individual-level characteristics using data from Get Information about Schools (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) and the SWC respectively. Percentages for these breakdowns are based on known characteristics only; unknowns are excluded. The 2024/25 individual-level characteristic volumes and percentages are provisional. These will be updated next year to include additional characteristics for ECTs who are missing from the current 2024 SWC but appear in next year’s SWC. This will reduce the number of unknowns.
ECF Mentors
- The number of new mentors trained for the provider-led ECF-based induction was calculated by including all mentors who are recorded in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started mentor training to work with an ECF participant during their induction programme. The number includes mentors replacing other mentors who withdrew from the provider-led ECF-based induction programme.
These figures are broken down by individual-level characteristics like age, role, ethnicity and teaching experience using the data from the School Workforce Census (SWC). Percentages for these breakdowns are based on known characteristics only; unknowns are excluded.
ECF Retention
Building on from the ECF starts data, the ECF retention figures are then calculated. In the retention output, we calculate the retention by looking at the ECTs who appeared in the SWC, and monitoring if they are tracked in subsequent years.
- The percentage of ECTs in SWC who were retained in the SWC after one year was calculated as follows:
- The metric is percentage of ECTs who are retained in the SWC one year after they started their ECF induction.
- The numerator includes all ECTs in the SWC who were retained in the SWC after one year.
- The denominator includes the number of ECTs who started ECF based induction. It includes ECTs in the SWC who started the ECF-based induction training and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant. They are only counted if they appear in the SWC in the same year they began their induction.
- The percentage of ECTs in SWC who were retained in the SWC after two years was calculated using the same denominator as above:
- The metric is percentage of ECTs who are retained in the SWC two year after they started their ECF induction.
- The numerator includes all ECTs in the SWC who were retained in the SWC after two years.
- The denominator includes the number of ECTs who started ECF based induction. It includes ECTs in the SWC who started the ECF-based induction training and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant. They are only counted if they appear in the SWC in the same year they began their induction.
- The percentage of ECTs in SWC who were retained in the SWC after three years was calculated using the same denominator as above:
- The metric is percentage of ECTs who are retained in the SWC three year after they started their ECF induction.
- The numerator includes all ECTs in the SWC who were retained in the SWC after three years.
- The denominator includes the number of ECTs who started ECF based induction. It includes ECTs in the SWC who started the ECF-based induction training and who have also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrant. They are only counted if they appear in the SWC in the same year they began their induction.
These figures are broken down by region as well as school-level and individual-level characteristics using data from Get Information about Schools (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) and the SWC respectively. For each breakdown of ECTs doing the provider-led and school-led induction, an equivalent percentage breakdown of ECTs in the School Workforce Census.
ECF Workforce
- The total number of ECF participants in the Teacher CPD Service dataset who started an ECF-based induction training and have also appeared in the SWC.
- The total number of teachers in the SWC from 2021/22 to 2024/25
- The percentage of teachers in the workforce each year who have participated or were participating in ECF. The metric is calculated as following:
- The numerator includes all the total number of ECF participants.
- The denominator includes all teachers in point 2.
NPQs
The Teacher CPD Service dataset contains information on the number of teachers and leaders who have started a funded or a non-funded NPQ. The total number of NPQ starts was calculated by including all NPQ courses that are recorded as started on the Teacher CPD Service. These starts are then disaggregated by whether they were funded or not, which is based on whether the teacher was eligible for DfE scholarship funding.
In 2024/25 eligibility for scholarship funding changed and there were a limited number of funded training places available. Fully funded training places were available for the SENCO, Headship and Leading Primary Mathematics NPQs for eligible institutions. Eligibility for scholarship funding for all other NPQs was targeted towards teachers and leaders in the most disadvantaged schools and 16-19 institutions.
In some instances, demand for scholarships was greater than the available funding and teachers and leaders may have chosen to fund the NPQ via other means. Where this was the case, in this publication the NPQ will be counted as not eligible for scholarship funding or “non-funded”.
Considerations have been taken when there are participants doing multiple courses. If one person does a course in one year and another course the following year, we now treat these as two separate participants. In rare cases where participants may be doing two courses in the same year, we count them as one. In the four-year cumulative participant totals, each person is only counted once, regardless of how many courses they have started.
To provide context to the breakdowns of teachers and leaders taking a funded and non-funded NPQs, a corresponding breakdown of the percentage of the total teaching workforce starting an NPQ is provided.
The percentage metric is limited insofar as not everyone who is eligible to take a funded and non-funded NPQ course also appears in the SWC.
Breakdowns of teacher headcount figures may not be integers because the SWC uses nonresponse weighting.
These figures are broken down by region, local authority as well as school level and individual level characteristics, using data from the School Workforce Census (SWC) and Get Information About Schools (GIAS) data.
These figures are broken down by funded and non-funded NPQs as well as school-level and individual-level characteristics using data from Get Information about Schools (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) and the SWC respectively.
A. NPQs starts and participants
- Total number of NPQ starts: this figure represents the total number of National Professional Qualification (NPQ) courses that have been started, as recorded in the Teacher CPD Service dataset. Each course start is counted individually. This means that if a single participant begins more than one NPQ - whether in the same academic year or across different years - each of those starts is included in the total. As a result, this number may exceed the number of individual participants.
- Total number of unique NPQ participants: this figure reflects the total number of individual teachers and leaders who have started at least one NPQ. Each person is counted only once, regardless of how many NPQ courses they have undertaken. This metric captures the unique headcount of participants and helps to avoid double-counting individuals who may have enrolled in multiple NPQs. Uniqueness is determined using identifiers such as teacher reference numbers.
- Total number of unique NPQ participants in SWC eligible school types: this is a subset of the total NPQ participants. It includes only those individuals who started an NPQ and are employed in schools that are eligible for inclusion in the School Workforce Census (SWC). Again, each participant is counted only once, even if they started multiple NPQs.
Percentage of the workforce participating in NPQs: this metric represents the proportion of the school workforce engaged in NPQs. It is calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes the number of unique SWC teachers and leaders who started an NPQ.
- The denominator includes total number of teachers and leaders recorded in the School Workforce Census (SWC).
This percentage provides insight into the reach and uptake of NPQs across the teaching workforce.
- Total number of teachers in the school workforce census: this figure represents the complete count of all teachers included in the SWC each year. It serves as the denominator for various workforce-related metrics, including NPQ participation rates.
B. NPQ completion
The NPQ completions and outcomes data comes from the Teacher CPD Service. There is one unique outcome per unique NPQ start for both funded and non-funded starts, though courses can take between 18 and 22 months to complete, so there is only substantial outcome data for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 starts.
- Total number of NPQ starts: this figure represents the total count of National Professional Qualification (NPQ) course enrolments. It includes all DfE NPQ courses that are recorded in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having been started. Each course start is counted individually, meaning that if a single participant begins multiple NPQs, each start is included in the total.
- Total number of NPQ completions: this figure represents the number of NPQ courses where participants reached completion. A course is considered completed when a NPQ participant has a recorded "completed" declaration in the dataset.
- Total number of NPQ passes: this figure represents the number of NPQ courses that participants successfully passed. A pass is recorded when a NPQ participant has a "pass" declaration, indicating they met all assessment criteria.
NPQ completion rate: this metric represents the proportion of NPQ participants who completed their course. It is calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes number of NPQ starts with a recorded "completed" declaration.
- The denominator includes the number of NPQ starts in the academic year.
This percentage indicates how many participants who began an NPQ successfully reached the end of the programme.
NPQ pass rate: this metric represents the proportion of completed NPQs that were successfully passed. It is calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes all number of NPQ completions with a recorded "pass" declaration.
- The denominator includes all total number of NPQ completions.
This percentage provides insight into the success rate among participants who completed their NPQ programme.
C. NPQ school engagement
This section presents both the number and percentage of schools in England that have employed at least one teacher or leader who started a National Professional Qualification (NPQ) between academic years 2021/22 and 2024/25. The data is shown in two formats:
Discrete view: Represents the number of schools in each individual academic year where at least one staff member started an NPQ while employed at that school.
Cumulative view: This view was calculated using the same inclusion criteria outlined above. The data was grouped by academic year and then cumulatively summed on a year-to-year basis to reflect the total number of schools that had at least one teacher or leader start an NPQ while employed there, from 2021/22 to 2024/25. Each school is counted only once in the cumulative total, even if it had NPQ participants in multiple years.
- Total number of schools: this figure represents the total number of publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations in England that were ‘open’ or ‘open, but proposed to close’ in each academic year.
Total number of schools with NPQ participants:
This indicator captures the number of schools that had at least one teacher of leader start an NPQ course. It is broken down by funding status:- Funded: Number of schools where at least one employee started a funded NPQ.
- Non-Funded: Number of schools where at least one employee started a non-funded NPQ.
Each school is counted once per category, regardless of how many staff members participated.
Percentage of schools with NPQ participants: this metric represents the proportion of schools that had at least one teacher or leader start an NPQ. It is calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes the number of schools with at least one NPQ participant (funded or non-funded).
- The denominator includes all publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations in England that were ‘open’ or ‘open, but proposed to close in each academic year (point 1).
This percentage reflects the overall reach of NPQs across the school system.
- Percentage of schools with funded NPQ participants: this metric shows the proportion of schools where at least one staff member started a funded NPQ. It is calculated as:
- The numerator includes the number of schools with at least one funded NPQ participant.
- The denominator includes all publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations in England that were ‘open’ or ‘open, but proposed to close’ in each academic year (point 1).
- Percentage of schools with non-funded NPQ participants: this metric shows the proportion of schools where at least one staff member started a non-funded NPQ. It is calculated as:
- The numerator includes the number of schools with at least one non-funded NPQ participant.
- The denominator includes all publicly funded schools and 16 to 19 educational organisations in England that were ‘open’ or ‘open, but proposed to close’ in each academic year (point 1).
Glossary
| CPD | Continuing Professional Development |
| DfE | Department for Education |
| EEF | Education Endowment Foundation |
| ECF | Early Career Framework |
| ECT | Early Career Teacher: unless otherwise stated, in this release, ECT refers to all participants on an ECF-based induction programme. Some participants may have some prior teaching experience and are either returning to teaching after time away or are new to the publicly funded education sector. For retention analysis, we restrict ECTs to include only those who are newly qualified. |
| GIAS | Get Information About Schools |
| NPQ | National Professional Qualifications |
| QTS | Qualified Teacher Status |
| SEN | Special Educational Needs |
| SWC | School Workforce Census |
| Funded NPQs | Participants in school setting which were eligible for scholarship for NPQs fundings. |
| Non-Funded NPQs | Participants in school setting which were not eligible for scholarship for NPQs fundings |
| EHCO NPQs | |
| no data | Data does not exist for this entry |
| 'Unknown' | Either the teacher could not be matched in the School Workforce Census, or that the information is missing in the School Workforce Census. |
| 'z' | The appearance of 'z' in the table indicates that the metric is not applicable to this category. This could be as no teachers in this group appear in the School Workforce Census for this category, or there in the instance of retention, not enough time has passed to be able to look at the two-year figure. |
| 'c' | The appearance of 'c' in the table indicates that the data has been suppressed due to low counts. |
| 'low' | The appearance of 'low' in the table denotes that the data has rounded to 0 but is not 0. |
| ‘u’ | The appearance of ‘u’ in a table denotes data of low reliability. In this publication this refers to retention, completion and pass rates that are based on populations of fewer than 30 teachers. |
How the department uses the information
The Department for Education uses the data published in this release to monitor the delivery of the ECF and NPQs reforms.
Further information
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If you have a specific enquiry about Teacher and leader development: ECF and NPQs statistics and data:
Career Professional Development (CPD) Analysis Team
Email: Jay.KHAMIS@EDUCATION.GOV.UKContact name: Mr Jay Khamis
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