Teacher Workforce Explained

📊 Explorer 📈 Insights

Teaching & the teacher workforce, explained

Plain-English answers about becoming a teacher in England and how the teaching profession works – the companion to our interactive Teacher Workforce Explorer.

Becoming a teacher

How to become a teacherThe complete plain-English guide to training and QTS.What is QTS?The status you need to teach in state schools.PGCE vs QTSTwo things people mix up – the difference explained.Routes into teaching, comparedFee-funded, salaried, apprenticeship and more.Bursaries & scholarshipsUp to £29,000 tax-free in shortage subjects.

Starting teaching

The ITTECF and ECTESupport for new teachers – and the 2025 name change.

Understanding recruitment

What is a shortage subject?Where schools struggle to recruit – and why.How recruitment targets workTrainee need and the Teacher Workforce Model.

Understanding the workforce

Headcount vs FTEWhy teacher numbers can fall as people join.What is teacher retention?How long teachers stay, measured by cohort.Specialist vs non-specialist teachingWho really teaches each subject.How teacher pay worksPay scales, the London weighting and the median.Why do teachers leave?What the stats show vs what surveys say.

Supply & cover

What is a supply teacher?Temporary teaching cover, agency and direct.Supply teacher vs cover supervisorWho teaches, who supervises.Why do schools use supply teachers?Absence, vacancies, maternity, CPD and gaps.How do supply agencies work?School, agency, worker – and the fee.What is an ‘occasional teacher’?The census measure that is often misread.What is a temporarily filled post?Not a vacancy, and not an empty classroom.How much do schools spend on supply?£1.4bn on agency staff, and what that covers.The supply staff procurement frameworkRM6376 and the September 2026 requirement.

Teaching in colleges

How to teach in an FE collegeTrain on the job – a different route entirely.What is QTLS?The FE status – and how it can work in schools.FE teacher training bursariesUp to £31,000 – more than the school bursary.How FE college pay worksNo national scale, and a widening gap.Sixth-form college vs school sixth formTwo ways to teach 16–18, counted separately.