Listen to this story Members can listen to an AI-generated audio version of this article. 1.0x Audio narration uses an AI-generated voice. 0:00 0:00 Become a member to listen to this article Subscribe Government says it has hit 70 per cent of their target to recruit 6,500 additional teachers, as official data shows the school workforce has shrunk for the first time since 2019. The Department for Education has released its annual school workforce data today. It reveals fewer entrants to the profession, as well as leavers. Here’s everything you need to know. 1. We’re doing well on teacher pledge, says DfE… Labour promised in its manifesto to recruit 6,500 more teachers. It only released its recruitment strategy in February as part of the schools white paper. The DfE says it has so far recruited 4,654 additional secondary, special and further education teachers against its pledge. The data shows this comprises of 3,008 secondary and special teachers, alongside 1,646 in further education recruited since the 2023-24 academic year. In total, this makes up 71 per cent of the 6,500 pledge, the DfE said. However, the DfE appears to have factored into its analysis an increase in the number of secondary and special school teachers seen in September 2024, just two months after the current government was elected. 2. …but workforce starts to shrink The school workforce has started to shrink for the first time since 2019, with the number of teachers falling for the second year in a row. Data shows that there was a full-time equivalent school workforce of 984,610 in 2025-26, down from 986,125 the year before. The total number of teachers has decreased by 1,900, or 0.4 per cent. There was a larger drop in primary school teachers (1.3 per cent) than secondary school teachers (0.4 per cent). However, the number of teachers in special and pupil referral units increased by 3.9 per cent. The DfE said trends in teachers and the school workforce “should be set in the context of changes in the pupil population by school type”. 3. More teaching assistants, but other support roles down The number of support staff overall increased slightly, driven by an increase in the number of teaching assistants of 6,200. However, the DfE said this may reflect the fact that many teaching assistants work part time. All other support staff roles saw drop last year, with the number of office staff falling by 3,800 between 2023-24 and 2024-25. 4. Fewer joining, but fewer leaving Data also reveals that the number of entrants to the profession and those leaving the profession have both shrunk. Entrants dropped by 800 to 41,012 between 2023-24 and 2024-25. Newly qualified teachers made up around 40 per cent of entrants, which was a slight decrease from 2023-24. At the same time, the number of teachers leaving the profession fell by 2,100 from 40,700 to 38,600. The rate of teachers leaving to retire has remained consistent, while the majority (91 per cent) left for a career change, or to join other education sectors. The vacancy rate remained stable last year, at 4 per 1,000 teachers. Teacher retention rates (89.7 per cent) are also similar to the year before (89.9 per cent). 5. More educational psychologists Local authorities reported employing around 300 more educational psychologists in 2024-25. This was an increase from 2,700 in 2023-24. It comes as government will drive recruitment of EPs alongside speech and language therapists and occupational therapists as part of its ‘Experts at Hand’ offer.
Deb Kelly 7 June 2026 The 6,500 teacher pledge was consistently framed around “specialist teachers in our state schools” and used in that context to justify the VAT on private school fees policy. That framing clearly implied mainstream state provision, not a broad catch-all for every publicly funded education setting. If the argument now is that the requirement also includes further education or special educational settings, that may be a legitimate policy adjustment — needs do evolve. But that is not the same as saying this was always part of the original 6,500 pledge as presented, haven’t we done a great job! The issue isn’t whether FE or special ed needs more teachers. It’s whether the pledge used to justify the VAT policy is now being retrospectively broadened in scope and then presented as being met on that basis. That distinction matters for consistency and accountability in how the commitment was communicated — especially to families and children affected by the policy.