School Workforce in England

This statistical release from the DCSF updates data on the school workforce.

Key points:
- In January 2008, results for state funded schools show that the full time equivalent (FTE) number of teachers rose by 1,900 (0.4%) to reach 441,200 compared to January 2007.
- In the state funded sector, the total number of support staff rose by 18,200 to 326,400 in January 2008. Within this, the number of teaching assistants rose by 13,000 to 176,900 and the number of administrative staff, technicians and other support staff rose by 5,000 to 149,500.
- Teacher vacancies in LA maintained nursery/primary, secondary and special schools went up by 470 to 2,510 in January 2008 compared to January 2007.
- The overall pupil: teacher ratio for the state funded sector was 16.8 in January 2008, compared to 17.0 in 2007. In the LA maintained sector the pupil: teacher ratio was 16.9 in January 2008 compared to 17.1 in 2007.
- Teacher vacancies in nursery/primary, secondary and special schools went up by 470 to 2,510 in January 2008 compared to January 2007.
- In January 2008, 94.3 per cent of teachers were recorded in the white ethnic groups, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from 2007.
- An estimated 313,300 full-time and part-time teachers in England took sickness absence in 2007, approximately 57 per cent of the workforce. This is the same proportion as reported in 2006.