The ‘Teacher and Leader Development: ECTE and NPQs’ publication, first released in July 2022, is now labelled as ‘Official Statistics’ rather than ‘Official Statistics in Development’. This reflects that the data and methods meet the standards of quality, trustworthiness and value set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics as they have evolved over the years and can be used with confidence by the public and decision makers. The publication reports on the numbers of early career teachers (ECTs) and mentors who participated in the Early career teacher entitlement - GOV.UK (opens in new tab), formerly known as the Early Career Framework (ECF) induction prior to September 2025, as well as teachers and leaders pursuing National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) in each academic year from 2021/22 onwards in England. The publication also includes ECT retention rates and NPQs outcomes for participants who began in the academic years 2021/22 and 2024/25, and reports on the proportion of workforce participating in ECTE, NPQs and both programmes, referred to collectively as golden thread CPD, to provide an overall measure of workforce coverage.
Teacher and leader development: ECTE and NPQs
- Published
Summary
Data sources
Teacher CPD Digital Service dataset
The department holds administrative information on ECTE-based training via early career teachers (ECTs) and mentors registering their details on the register early career teachers service (opens in new tab) . The service is for ECTs who are 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 ECTE. For provider-led training, lead providers submit information to the department to confirm that ECTs and mentors are actively engaged with the ECTE induction training.
This year’s publication also benefits from the introduction of the Register Early Career Teachers (RECT) digital service database which has been designed to better support the underlying data collection of ECTE. This new data system captures the full complexity of teachers’ induction journeys more accurately than the previous system, leading to a more consistent and logical organisation of the ECTE data over the years, as well as reducing the need for manual corrections. As a result, the statistics are now derived from a more robust and reliable data source, supporting higher data quality and increased confidence in the published outputs.
The department holds management information on NPQs registrations based on teachers and leaders signing up for an NPQ on the register for a national professional qualification (NPQ) service (opens in 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 ECTE-based training and NPQs is accurate as of 12th June 2026. Any changes to the data after that date are not considered.
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. From the academic year 2024/25, these records have been 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 age, sex, 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 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 ECTE-based training programme.
- Provide information on the individual level characteristics of ECTs in the SWC who are doing the provider-led ECTE-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 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 phase, 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 Register early career teachers service (opens in new tab) , 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’s Register for a national professional qualification (NPQ) service (opens in new tab), providing their Teacher Reference Number (TRN), date of birth, and National Insurance number (optional).
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 ECTE, 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
Match rates
This section summarises how well the Teacher CPD Service records link to the two main administrative reference datasets: the School Workforce Census (SWC) and Get Information About Schools (GIAS). Match rates are calculated after the full data cleaning and de-duplication pipeline has been applied (end-of-pipeline figures), so they reflect the quality of the final analytical dataset rather than the raw data extract.
Changes to TRNs in the 2025 SWC mean that around 2,000 records in the CPD data, which previously matched, no longer do. This has slightly increased the number of ECTs and NPQs with unknown teacher characteristics compared to previous years and explains in part the decrease in match rates in 2023/24 and 2024/25 compared to earlier years. The impact on the statistics is minimal; the issue is under investigation with the aim to improve the data quality in future years.
A. ECTE
Match rates for ECTE are reported for those participants who fall in-scope for the publication, which removes teachers overseas, teachers in independent schools, and those with programme information we were unable to verify.
1. Two SWC match rates are reported for ECTE:
- Current-year SWC — the teacher appeared in the SWC for the same academic year as their induction cohort.
- Including following-year SWC — the teacher appeared in either the current or the following year’s SWC. This fall-back is necessary because some ECTs began their induction after the November census date and therefore only appeared in the next year’s census.
ECTE SWC match rates
| Cohort | Programme | ECTs | SWC (current year) | SWC (inc. following year) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | Provider-led | 27,464 | 78.4% | 92.0% |
| 2021/22 | School-led | 1,263 | 87.1% | 94.3% |
| 2021/22 | Non-declared provider-led | 185 | 100% | 100% |
| 2021/22 | Total ECTs | 28,912 | 78.9% | 92.1% |
| 2022/23 | Provider-led | 26,580 | 81.1% | 90.9% |
| 2022/23 | School-led | 1,148 | 85.6% | 91.0% |
| 2022/23 | Non-declared provider-led | 287 | 100% | 100% |
| 2022/23 | Total ECTs | 28,015 | 81.5% | 91.0% |
| 2023/24 | Provider-led | 23,970 | 79.8% | 90.3% |
| 2023/24 | School-led | 844 | 86.1% | 91.9% |
| 2023/24 | Non-declared provider-led | 101 | 100% | 100% |
| 2023/24 | Total ECTs | 24,915 | 80.1% | 90.4% |
| 2024/25 | Provider-led | 22,105 | 79.1% | 88.8% |
| 2024/25 | School-led | 790 | 82.7% | 88.4% |
| 2024/25 | Non-declared provider-led | 103 | 100% | 100.0% |
| 2024/25 | Total ECTs | 22,998 | 79.3% | 88.8% |
| 2025/26 | Provider-led | 21,652 | 75.0% | |
| 2025/26 | School-led | 647 | 77.7% | |
| 2025/26 | Non-declared provider-led | 174 | 100% | |
| 2025/26 | Total ECTs | 22,473 | 75.3% |
The following-year fall-back materially improves match rates for earlier cohorts (by around 10–12 percentage points for provider-led ECTs). For the 2025/26 cohort the following-year rates are blank, because the following-year SWC (2026) is not yet available; the match rate for this cohort will improve in future iterations of the pipeline.
Non-declared provider-led ECTs match at 100% in the current year across all cohorts. This group consists of a relatively small group of teachers who have a full induction programme recorded in the induction-period data but no funded declaration in Teacher CPD Service; because they are identified via the SWC-linked induction data, a SWC match is a prerequisite for inclusion. The same SWC prerequisite applies to school-led ECTs who are only identified via the induction period data, which explains their higher match rates than provider-led ECTs. The SWC condition is required to confirm they are working in an eligible school and therefore in scope for the publication.
2. Match to GIAS:
All ECTs in the final analytical dataset are linked to a school with a valid Unique Reference Number (URN) that matches to GIAS, which is required to confirm they are in scope for the publication. GIAS match rates are therefore 100% by construction for the end-of-pipeline dataset, and are not reported separately.
B. NPQs
Match rates for NPQs are calculated for the records in scope for the statistics publication. This removes participants whose teacher catchment is recorded as outside England (international starts), see section below on “NPQ starts: full delivery vs England-only series”. Match rates are reported separately for funded and non-funded participants, as the two groups have different expected match rates due to differences in their employment contexts, which are linked to funding eligibility.
1. Match to SWC:
The table below shows the proportion of NPQ starts that could be linked to a record in the SWC, by cohort and funding status.
NPQ SWC match rates
| Cohort | Funding | Starts | SWC matched | Match rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | Funded | 29,888 | 27,844 | 93.2% |
| 2021/22 | Non-funded | 662 | 154 | 23.3% |
| 2021/22 | Total | 30,550 | 27,998 | 91.6% |
| 2022/23 | Funded | 36,628 | 32,157 | 87.8% |
| 2022/23 | Non-funded | 572 | 130 | 22.7% |
| 2022/23 | Total | 37,200 | 32,287 | 86.8% |
| 2023/24 | Funded | 41,587 | 36,297 | 87.3% |
| 2023/24 | Non-funded | 592 | 64 | 10.8% |
| 2023/24 | Total | 42,179 | 36,361 | 86.2% |
| 2024/25 | Funded | 23,686 | 20,852 | 88% |
| 2024/25 | Non-funded | 3,765 | 2,456 | 65.2% |
| 2024/25 | Total | 27,451 | 23,308 | 84.9% |
| 2025/26 | Funded | 16,438 | 14,317 | 87.1% |
| 2025/26 | Non-funded | 2,488 | 1,614 | 64.9% |
| 2025/26 | Total | 18,926 | 15,931 | 84.2% |
Match rates for funded participants are consistently high (87–93%), reflecting that funded participants are required to be employed in eligible state-funded schools and so are well-represented in the SWC. The substantially lower match rates for non-funded participants are expected: investigation of unmatched records shows that the majority are not working in state-funded schools - for example, independent schools, early-years practitioners in private childcare settings, or staff in establishment types that do not appear in the SWC.
2. Match to GIAS:
All funded NPQ starts match to GIAS at near-100% rates across every cohort, as funded participants must be employed at an eligible establishment, most of which have a valid URN (early years settings are an exception, such as local authority nursery schools). Non-funded participants match at somewhat lower rates (87–93%), consistent with the same population of non-school-based practitioners noted above. Any unmatched records are assigned “Unknown” school characteristics and are excluded from percentage denominators.
Data cleaning
A. ECTE
ECTE data tables are constructed from the Record Early Career Teachers (RECT) digital service. The key cleaning and processing steps are:
1. Induction. Training periods are joined to declarations and filtered to substantive declaration states; the latest declaration state is retained to remove duplication. School-led ECTs, who have no declarations in the Teacher CPD Service, are identified separately from the induction period data and added back so they are not lost from the dataset.
2. Programme classification. Each ECT is assigned to one of three programme types - provider-led (declared FIP), non-declared provider-led, or school-led - by reconciling the Teacher CPD Service training programme field with the induction-period programme type. A correction is applied for 2025-onward cohorts where unknown induction types are mapped to design-your-own (school-led), as school-led inductions no longer feed through at source.
3. Matching to SWC. ECTs are joined to the current-year SWC on TRN. A following-year fall-back match is also built for ECTs who start induction after the November census date and therefore only appear in the next year’s census. The two matches are combined, with the current-year match taking precedence.
4. Historical URN resolution. The URN look-back table is used to resolve the URN that was open in the year an ECT started their induction, handling school mergers, closures and reopenings. GIAS school characteristics are then attached on the resolved URN. Unmatched characteristics are set to “Unknown” rather than dropped.
5. Scope flags and filtering. Records are flagged for whether the school is in scope, and excluded establishment types are removed (with Section 41 special schools retained). Records with unverified programme information are dropped.
B. NPQs
NPQ data is also drawn from the Teacher CPD Service data, which holds records of participant registrations, declarations of progress, and assessment outcomes. The key cleaning and processing steps are:
1. Joining and filtering. Starts are inner-joined to declarations and filtered to accepted applications, removing voided, clawed-back and awaiting-clawback records. Ineligible duplicate records are also removed at this stage.
2. Funding classification. Each start is classified as funded or non-funded based on the declaration state and funding-eligibility fields, with slightly different rules applied before and from the 2024/25 cohort to reflect changes in funding policy.
3. Cohort derivation. The publication cohort year is derived from the schedule identifier and raw cohort label (for example, the autumn 2025 schedule maps to the 2025/26 cohort).
4. Matching to SWC and GIAS. Starts are left-joined to the SWC on TRN and cohort year, and to GIAS on URN and year. To support further analysis on NPQ school engagement, a separate current URN reference table is used to account for school mergers and splits over time, which links participants to the relevant school identifiers using GIAS establishment links for the corresponding year.GIAS school characteristics are then attached on the resolved current URN. Unmatched characteristics are set to “Unknown” rather than dropped.
5. De-duplication. Starts records are first reduced to one row per application (keeping the latest and furthest-progressed declaration). Participant level records are then reduced to one row per participant per academic year to avoid double-counting participants who start multiple NPQs across different cohorts (starts are used to measure NPQ take up by course type).
6. Geography and scope. Overseas starts are then removed to restrict the main publication series to England.
NPQ starts: full delivery vs England-only series
1. Starts by cohort and funding (England only – main publication series):
The table below shows NPQ starts used in the main body of the publication. These figures are restricted to participants with a teacher catchment of England (start_stats == 1), removing international starts to align the series with CPD uptake in England.
| Cohort | Funded starts | Non-funded starts | Total starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 29,888 | 662 | 30,550 |
| 2022/23 | 36,628 | 572 | 37,200 |
| 2023/24 | 41,587 | 592 | 42,179 |
| 2024/25 | 23,686 | 3,765 | 27,451 |
| 2025/26 | 16,438 | 2,488 | 18,926 |
2. Difference between total NPQ starts delivered by providers and the England-only series:
NPQ starts recorded in the Teacher CPD Service include participants whose teacher catchment is recorded as outside England (international starts). The England-only series used in the main publication removes these records.
We are removing international starts from the main body of the publication to better align reporting with CPD uptake in England. We will continue to report all starts on the Teacher CPD Service in the methodology note to show the complete picture of delivery by NPQ providers and to allow users to understand the difference between the two series.
The table below illustrates the scale of the difference. All international starts are in the non-funded population.
| Cohort | Full delivery (all starts) | England only (publication) | International starts removed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 31,673 | 30,550 | 1,123 |
| 2022/23 | 38,916 | 37,200 | 1,716 |
| 2023/24 | 43,893 | 42,179 | 1,714 |
| 2024/25 | 29,887 | 27,451 | 2,436 |
| 2025/26 | 20,964 | 18,926 | 2,038 |
Historical revisions
This section reports on the extent of revisions to headline figures across successive statistical releases. As these statistics are derived from administrative data that continues to be updated and refined over time, such as the Teacher CPD Service data, figures for the same cohort may differ between releases. These may indicate improvements in data completeness, coverage, matching, as well as changes to methodology and data systems, including the introduction of the RECT digital service as described previously.
A. ECTE
Across releases published between academic years 2021/22 and 2024/25, revisions to Cohort 2021/22 overall totals are within a range of 1,100 ECTs (approximately 4% ), with average year-to-year changes of around 700 (2-3 %). As the cohort data matures, revisions decrease with Cohort 2022/23 showing average changes of around 270 (1%) and Cohort 2023/24 around 330 (1-1.5%).
Provider-led participants account for most of this variation, with Cohort 2021/22 figures varying by around 830 overall, with an average change of approximately 370 between releases. School-led participants show higher proportional variation but smaller absolute revisions, around 240 on average with a range of 440, due to their smaller size.
B. NPQs
Overall cohort starts typically vary by around 2-3% across releases, with average year-to-year changes ranging from around 400 to 1,000 participants. Funded participants, which contribute to the majority of NPQ starts, drive this variation. In Cohort 2021/22, for example, funded counts vary by around 630 overall, with an average change of 270, whilst for 2022/23 the average revision is around 480 with a range of 950. Non-funded participants, where reported, show greater variability due to smaller numbers, with revisions for Cohort 2021/22 averaging around 340, although overall impact on total starts is limited.
The SWC does not collect information from independent schools, non-maintained special schools, other further education (FE) colleges and some former FE funded sixth form colleges which are now classed as academy schools. See Data Sources for further details.
Excluded establishments are: British schools overseas, higher education institutions, institution funded by other government department, miscellaneous, offshore schools, online provider, other independent school, Service children’s education and Welsh establishment.
Golden thread CPD
The Golden Thread measures capture participation in key continuing professional development (CPD) programmes across the teacher workforce, including Early Career Teacher Entitlement (ECTE)-based induction, ECTE mentor training, and National Professional Qualifications (NPQs).
Data sources and coverage
The analysis combines:
- Teacher CPD Service data (ECTE induction, mentor training and NPQs)
- School Workforce Census (SWC)
- Get information about Schools (GIAS)
Participation is measured for teachers in England from academic years 2021/22 to 2025/26.
Construction of participation measures
The Golden Thread measures are derived using the following steps:
- Identification of programme starts
ECTE and NPQ datasets are aggregated at the level of teacher reference number (TRN) and cohort (academic year).
For each TRN and year, binary flags are created indicating whether the individual:- Started ECTE-based induction
- Started ECTE mentor training
- Started an NPQ
- Linkage to the workforce
These flags are matched to the School Workforce Census using TRN and census year, restricting the analysis to teachers observed in the workforce in each year. - Cumulative participation counts
For each census year, participation is calculated cumulatively.
This counts all teachers who have started each programme in the current or any previous year (from 2021/22 onwards) and are present in the workforce in the given year. - Golden Thread measure
A combined “Golden Thread” participation measure is produced by summing across all CPD programme flags (ECTE induction, mentor training and NPQs), counting teachers who have participated in at least one programme. - Participation rates
Participation rates are calculated by dividing:- The number of participating teachers (numerator)
- By the total teaching workforce size in the SWC for that year (denominator)
This represents the proportion of the workforce that has participated in one or more Golden Thread programmes up to and including each census year.
Output measures
The dataset includes:
- Participant counts: cumulative number of teachers who have participated in each programme and in any Golden Thread CPD
- Participation rates: percentage of the teaching workforce participating in each programme and overall
These measures are produced for each academic year from 2021/22 to 2025/26.
All measures are disaggregated using characteristics from the SWC and linked school data, including:
- Teacher-level characteristics (e.g. age, sex, ethnicity, grade, working pattern)
- School-level characteristics (e.g. phase, school type, disadvantage measures, region)
Breakdowns are presented consistently for both:
- Individual programme participation (ECTE, mentor training, NPQs)
- The combined Golden Thread participation measure
Interpretation
Participation figures are cumulative, meaning they reflect all prior participation up to the specified year rather than activity within a single year. Teachers may be counted in multiple programme categories if they have participated in more than one CPD type. The Golden Thread measure captures overall engagement with funded teacher development programmes across the workforce.
ECTE-based induction
The Teacher CPD Service dataset contains information on the number of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) who are undertaking the ECTE-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 ECTE; these ECTs are covered by the induction period data held by DfE (see Data Sources) and the School Workforce Census (SWC).
ECTE-based induction:
ECTs who started their ECTE-based induction are identified in the Teacher CPD Service data and induction period data from 2021/22 to 2025/26.
Overall ECTE participants:
- The total numbers of ECTE participants who started the ECTE 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 ECTE-based induction training between 2021/22 to 2025/26. School-led participants with missing school information must appear in the SWC to be counted.
- The cumulative number of ECTE 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 ECTE participants up to a given year from 2021/22 to 2025/26.
- The total number of ECTE 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 ECTE-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2025/26.
- The total number of ECTE 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 ECTE-based induction from 2021/22 to 2025/26 and, where school information is missing, who are present in SWC.
- The total number of ECTE participants who started the provider-led induction with pending confirmation was calculated by including all participants in the Teacher CPD Service dataset who had started ECTE-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2025/26, have an undeclared provider-led status in the Teacher CPD Service dataset and are present in SWC.
- The percentage of ECTE participants who started 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 ECTE-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2025/26.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
7. The percentage of ECTE participants who started 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 ECTE-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2025/26 and who also appeared in the 2025 SWC.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
8. The percentage of ECTE participants who started the provider-led induction with pending confirmation was calculated as follows:
- The numerator includes all participants who were confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started the provider-led ECTE-based induction training from 2021/22 to 2025/26, have an undeclared provider-led in the Teacher CPD Service dataset and are present in SWC.
- The denominator includes all participants in point 1.
Overall ECTs in SWC:
- Figures for ECTs in the SWC are derived from the same underlying cohort of participants who started ECTE-based induction between 2021/22 and 2025/26, using the Teacher CPD Service and induction period data, but are further restricted to those who also appeared in the SWC as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrants.
- Likewise, in this SWC-matched population, totals and cumulative cohort counts are calculated, alongside breakdowns by the three induction routes (provider-led, school-led and provider-led with pending confirmation).
- Workforce percentages are calculated by dividing ECTs in the SWC by the overall teaching workforce size, as Calculated in the SWC.
- Percentages for each route are calculated as the proportion of the total ECTs in SWC, providing eight additional metrics aligned to SWC coverage alongside the “Overall ECTE participants” figures as described in the section above.
Across “Overall ECTE participants” and “Overall ECTs in SWC”, figures are further broken down by region as well as school-level and individual-level characteristics using data from Get Information about Schools (opens in new tab) and the SWC respectively. The 2025/26 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 2025 SWC but appear in next year’s SWC. This will reduce the number of unknowns.
ECTE Mentors:
9. The total number of new mentors trained for the provider-led ECTE-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 ECTE participant during their induction programme. The number includes mentors replacing other mentors who withdrew from the provider-led ECTE-based induction programme.
These figures are broken down by individual-level characteristics such as age, sex, ethnicity, grade and teaching experience using data from the SWC. Percentages for these breakdowns are based on known characteristics only; unknowns are excluded.
ECTE Retention:
Building on from the ECTE starts data, the ECTE 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.
Specifically, retention rates are calculated as the percentage of ECTs recorded in the SWC who remained in the SWC a specified number of years (one, two, three and four) after starting their ECTE-based induction.
- The denominator includes ECTs who started ECTE-based induction and appeared in the SWC in the same academic year as newly qualified entrants or deferred newly qualified entrants.
- The numerator includes those from this cohort who were retained in the SWC after the specified period.
This measure is not continuous: if an ECT leaves the SWC and later returns, they will not be counted as retained for any year in which they were absent. For example, an ECT who is not present in year two but returns in year three will not be included in the two-year retention rate, but will be counted in the three-year retention measure.
The number of years available for measuring retention varies by cohort, depending on when they started the induction. For example, in this publication, the 2021/22 cohort is the only group for which a four-year retention rate can be reported.
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 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.
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 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 |
| ECTE | Early Career Teacher Entitlement, which replaces the Early Career Framework (ECF) from September 2025 to reflect its role as a defined entitlement for all eligible early career teachers. |
| ECT | Early Career Teacher: unless otherwise stated, in this release, ECT refers to all participants on an ECTE-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 and the ECT workforce share, we restrict ECTs to include only those who are newly qualified. |
| Golden Thread | Golden thread CPD measures account for participation across ECTE, mentor training and NPQs. These courses have been designed to build on and complement each other as a teacher progresses through their career, and draw on a common evidence base that is independently reviewed by the Education Endowment Foundation. |
| GIAS | Get Information About Schools |
| NPQs | National Professional Qualifications |
| QTS | Qualified Teacher Status |
| RECT | Record Early Career Teachers (RECT) digital service |
| SEN | Special Educational Needs |
| SWC | School Workforce Census |
TRN | Teacher Reference Number, a key ID variable for data linkage with teacher-level characteristic data in the 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 |
| no data | Data does not exist for this entry |
| URN | Unique Reference Number for schools, a key ID variable for data linkage with school-level characteristic data in Get Information About Schools |
| '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 ECTE and NPQs reforms.
Help and support
Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about Teacher and leader development: ECTE and NPQs statistics and data:
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Analysis Team
Email: Jay.KHAMIS@EDUCATION.GOV.UKContact name: Mr Jay Khamis
Press office
If you have a media enquiry:
Telephone: 020 7783 8300
Public enquiries
If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
Phone: 0370 000 2288
Opening times:
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)