Targets Hit?

Ministers have claimed to have hit 70 per cent of their target to recruit 6,500 additional teachers at the same time 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.

Labour promised in its manifesto to recruit 6,500 more teachers.  According to the DfE it has so far recruited 4,654 additional secondary, special and further education teachers against its pledge. The data indicates that this is made up of 3,008 secondary and special teachers, alongside 1,646 in further education recruited since the 2023-24 academic year, equating to 71 per cent of the 6,500 pledge.

However, questions are being asked about how the figures have been reached. It is possible that this total includes the increase in the number of secondary and special school teachers seen in September 2024, just two months after the current government was elected.