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Schools in England

The evidence found on this page relates to teacher supply in schools in England. It is a resource for professional and research communities concerned with the recruitment and retention of teachers and support for their professional development. As such it is relevant for policy-makers, school leaders, leaders of Multi-Academy Trusts, professional bodies, providers of professional learning, researchers and practitioners undertaking studies of teacher retention and strategic development to enhance teachers’ working lives.

The majority of the evidence provided is open access. It includes policy documents, reports, academic journal articles, books and chapters, briefings and blogs, and news and commentary published since 2019.

Each summary is labelled with its resource type and tagged with one or more themes. You can use the filters below to show only the evidence of a particular resource type or on a particular theme, and selecting a tag on any summary will take you to all resources sharing that theme. The search bar covers the full library, so results may include evidence relating to Further Education as well as schools; the sector is shown on each result. Each summary links to the original source where it is available.

Understanding teacher recruitment and retention across the UK: A ‘home international’ comparison

Summary:

This study adopts a comparative approach to the teacher recruitment and retention challenges facing the UK nations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It presents large-scale comparative analysis across the four nations, focusing on policy, secondary data and interviews with key stakeholders. The findings indicate the widely varying approaches...
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Government Evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body – 2026 Pay Award

Summary:

Government evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) is the Secretary of State for Education’s evidence to support the STRB’s consideration of the 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028 academic year pay awards for teachers and school leaders, alongside their indicative assessment for 2028 to 2029. This evidence...
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School workforce in England

Summary:

These reports on the school workforce statistics for England are published annually in June and are available from June 2019. They provide comprehensive overviews of the total numbers in the school workforce (teachers, teaching assistants, ‘others’); entrants, leavers, vacancy rate, pupil-teacher ratio, median pay and teacher retention after one year,...
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Teacher Workforce: Secondary and Further Education

Summary:

This comprehensive NAO report provides a full assessment of teacher recruitment and retention challenges across both secondary schools and further education colleges. It highlights ongoing recruitment and retention challenges, including pay disparities and weak workforce planning. The report documents that the government budgeted £700 million in 2024-25 for teacher recruitment...
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Teacher recruitment and retention in England data dashboard

Summary:

This interactive data dashboard provides information on teacher recruitment and retention challenges and contains data up to the 2023/24 academic year. It allows the user to navigate data to examine the impacts of teacher shortages on pupils and schools, focusing on regional differences, subjects and school types. Its latest updates...
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Teacher Wellbeing Index 2025

Summary:

This is the latest in a series of nine reports published by Education Support on the wellbeing of the education workforce, carried out since 2019. It reflects the persistent trends in poor wellbeing and identifies the need for systemic change, following the lowest reported overall wellbeing score since recording began...
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Teach Cornwall Report. Place-based challenges for trainee teacher recruitment

Summary:

This report sets out an explanation of why urban-centric teacher recruitment strategies do not meet the recruitment and retention needs of rural and coastal areas like Cornwall. It explores the multiple impacts of educational isolation brought about by geographic remoteness, high living costs, and limited diversity and connectivity. It calls...
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Supporting or stifling? Experiences of beginning teachers working within the Early Career Framework

Summary:

This research article examines the experiences of new teachers working with the Early Career Framework (ECF). It offers a critique of the ECF based on the findings from survey and interview data, suggesting that a core problem is the ‘one size fits all’ design of the framework. Early Career Teachers...
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Making teaching an attractive profession: What are the challenges and opportunities for minority ethnic teachers in England?

Summary:

This paper examines the recruitment and retention of minority ethnic teachers in England and the barriers to career progression experienced by teachers of colour and consequences for their retention. It analyses interviews with teachers and school leaders of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Findings indicate that these teachers obtained teaching posts, but...
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