PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(8 September 2026)

Recruiting and retaining expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, as high-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child’s outcomes.

In November 2025, there were 466,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, compared with 468,300 in 2024. The change in teacher FTE is in line with changes to pupil numbers, with falling rolls in primary schools. Pupil to teacher ratios have remained broadly stable at 17.9 in 2025 compared to 18.0 in 2024.

In February, we published our delivery plan, which sets how we will recruit 6,500 secondary, special school and FE teachers over the course of this parliament. Our delivery approach is focused on three key themes – attracting, retaining and developing teachers – to ensure we have enough highly-skilled teachers in our schools and colleges to allow every child to achieve and thrive. We are recruiting these additional teachers where need is greatest. Changing demographics means our greatest needs are in mainstream secondary schools, special schools and further education colleges. We have achieved 71.6% of the 6,500 target: there are 4,654 more teachers; 3,008 more teachers in Secondary and Special Schools in 2025/26 and 1,646 more teachers in Further Education, than in 2024/25.

The latest School Workforce Census reported the lowest leaver rate (8.5%) in any year outside the pandemic and teacher vacancies decreased to 1,600 in November 2025, down from 2,200 in November 2024.

The number of teachers returning to classrooms is continuing to rise. Latest figures reported 17,700 returners, continuing the increasing trend seen in the past four years.

Our school teacher pipeline is also growing. There were 32,576 new entrants to Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in Autumn 2025, up 13% from the previous year.

Primary and nursery schools saw a 2,900 decrease in teachers from 2024/25 to 2025/26. However, primary pupil numbers have fallen by 172,000 since 2019 and are expected to continue falling until at least 2030 which is why we did not include primary schools in the 6,500 teacher pledge. We are targeting workforce growth in mainstream secondary schools, special schools and FE colleges where they are most needed.

We are also seeing strong growth where there have been shortages. Last year we saw a 13% increase in new entrants to teacher training, including a 37% increase in Physics entrants, recruiting 78% of the target. This is the highest number of Physics entrants since comparable statistics began in 2014/15.