The number of secondary school teachers in England has increased over the past year stemming a long decline, new figures from the Department for Education show.
There were 1,400 extra full-time equivalent secondary school teachers recruited in the year to November 2024, a rise of 0.7%, while there was a recruitment jump of 3.2% for special teachers and pupil referral unit teachers seeing 900 extra staff taken on.
However, overall, there were 468,300 full-time equivalent teachers, a decrease of 400 since last year but an increase of 26,900 since 2010 when the school workforce census began. State-funded nursery and primary schools saw a decrease of 2,900 (-1.3%), which was caused by declining pupil numbers.
The number of support staff rose by 7,100 (1.4%) since 2023. This was mainly down to an increase of 5,900 teaching assistants. According to the DfE, more support staff worked part-time than was the case for teachers, resulting in very different numbers for FTE and headcount. Around half of technicians and other school support staff, six in 10 administrative staff, eight in 10 teaching assistants, and nine in 10 auxiliary staff worked part time, figures showed.
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Teacher vacancies and temporarily filled posts decreased in November 2024 after three years of increases.
The number of teachers entering and leaving service both decreased, although the number of entrants continues to be higher than for leavers. This, combined with changes in working patterns and an increase in teachers without qualified teacher status, resulted in a marginal decrease to the number of teachers in England.
The new figures also showed that nine in 10 teachers remain teaching in state-funded schools in England one year after qualification.
As of November 2024, 985,800 full-time equivalent staff worked in state-funded schools in England. Of these, nearly half (48%) were teachers.
Median pay for school teachers was £49,084, found the report. This differed by school type: median pay for primary school teachers was £49,037 and median pay for secondary school teachers was £52,475.
The National Foundation for Educational Research welcomed the news of higher recruitment.
Jack Worth, NFER’s school workforce lead, said: “Today’s teacher workforce statistics show some green shoots of progress towards addressing the chronic issues in teacher recruitment and retention in England. Growing teacher numbers in secondary and special schools, steady improvements to the retention rate and a fall in the rate of unfilled and temporarily-filled vacancies are all positive trends.
“However, the effects of sustained under-recruitment and poor retention continue to be felt by schools: vacancy rates remain at a historically high level. Continued action to improve recruitment and retention is vital to restoring teacher supply to state of health. Next week’s Spending Review provides an ideal opportunity to show a long-term commitment to increasing the attractiveness of teaching and delivering the government’s commitment to recruiting 6,500 teachers.
Worth added: “The data shows that primary teacher numbers have declined and this is largely linked to decreasing primary pupil numbers. A decrease in pupils means that, everything else equal, fewer teachers are needed. Based on recent pupil number projections, the decline is likely to continue which will further impact the number of primary teachers the system requires.”
Last year, before the July general election, the NFER announced that its research found that Labour’s plans for teacher recruitment were the most credible and likely to succeed.
The new figures represent something of a turnaround from 2023, which saw a rise in teacher vacancies of 2,300, a figure more than double the 1,100 recorded in November 2020.
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