Department for Education (DfE) statistics reflected an 11% increase in teacher trainees in England this year when compared with corresponding figures last year in 2024, considered the biggest rise after the pandemic.
A surge in recent graduates signing up to become teachers has enabled the government in England to meet crucial recruitment targets in subjects like maths and sciences for the first time this decade.
New figures from the Department for Education (DfE) reflected an 11% increase in the number of teacher trainees this year when compared with 2024. This indicates the most buoyant recruitment figures during the past 3 years since 2022.
Due to declining student numbers, the government has reduced its projected teacher shortage targets. In the meantime, there was still a surge in enrolment, especially for primary school teachers.
In 2024, the government only met 90% of its target for primary teachers. Conversely, a year later, this year, the figure reached 126%. For secondary school teachers, 88% of the DfE’s target was recruited, compared with only 61% in 2024.
For science, technology & maths (STEM) subjects, 107% of the target was recruited compared with only a mere 60% last year in 2024. Maths alone had 2,588 trainees, which amounted to a rise of 16% over the previous year. On the other hand, physics had 1,086 trainees, the highest number since comparable records began nearly a decade ago in 2014-15.
Trendy foreign languages, a subject that has often suffered from chronic under-recruitment, registered 93% of the DfE’s target being achieved.
Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, shared these figures as further evidence of the significant progress in teacher recruitment following years of sustained crisis. Growth was reflected only in STEM subjects, being particularly encouraging with the focus being on facilitating more children and the skills and knowledge needed to succeed.
Phillipson articulated that the increase means that more young people are receiving the expert teaching they deserve as they learn from teachers who love their subject and know how to bring it alive in their classrooms.
The improvement boosts the government’s chances of meeting its manifesto pledge for an additional 6,500 teachers for state schools. This includes more than 2,300 additional secondary and special school teachers for the 2024-25 period.
However, the general secretary of the Association of School & College Leaders, Pepe Di’lasio, believed that many schools were still facing staff shortages.
Di’lasio added that the government cannot afford to rest on their laurels and believe that only a single year of slightly better recruitment can fix such a widespread, sustained issue.
Di’lasio further commented that the government may need to observe sustained growth over many years. We anticipate that his move could result in enhanced wages and working conditions, thereby attracting a larger number of individuals. It’s also expected to sustain such resources in the teaching profession.
These numbers also reflected an increase in the number of trainees recruited from outside the UK & Europe. This figure rose by 2% from a previous 6% last year in 2024 to 8% this year.
The general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, Matt Wrack, said that the government’s proposed reforms to the immigration system could jeopardise this source of talent and make recruiting sufficient numbers of new teachers an even more difficult task in the future.
Wrack opined that preserving continued opportunities for these skilled and much-needed professionals to train & work in the UK will be essential as the reforms keep developing.
Meantime, a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies says that the rapid decline in student numbers in the coming years presents the UK’s national governments with a dilemma over making savings or sustaining current spending levels.
