What is teacher retention?

In short

Retention is the share of teachers still working in state-funded schools in England a set number of years after they qualified. The DfE follows each qualifying cohort over time – so retention after ten years describes people who qualified a decade ago.

Retention is highest in the first year and falls with time in the profession: of a recent cohort, roughly nine in ten are still teaching after one year, but only around three in five after ten. ‘Not retained’ means no longer in a state-funded school in England – it does not necessarily mean someone has left teaching altogether, as some move to independent schools, teach overseas, or return later.

Because recruiting and training a new teacher is expensive, keeping teachers matters as much as recruiting them. The Workforce Explorer lets you follow a single qualifying cohort year by year and compare cohorts over time.

📊 Follow a qualifying cohort

Sources & how this was made

Key official sources: the Department for Education’s Get Into Teaching and Teach in Further Education services, and GOV.UK guidance on initial teacher training, qualified teacher status, FE initial teacher education funding and the Early Career Teacher Entitlement; the Society for Education and Training on QTLS; and DfE statistics (School Workforce in England, the ITT Census, Teacher demand and postgraduate trainee need, and the Further education workforce releases) on Explore Education Statistics, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Last reviewed: 15 August 2026. Teacher training rules, funding and figures change – always confirm current details with Get Into Teaching and GOV.UK.

How this was made: developed and cross-checked with AI assistance alongside expert human review by tutor2u. It is an independent, plain-English guide, not official DfE guidance.