School teacher workforce

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 30 May 2018 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• there were 503,900 teachers in state-funded schools in England in 2016 (including classroom teachers, headteachers, and deputy and assistant heads) – when part-time teaching is taken into account, this amounts to 457,300 full-time equivalent teachers

• 86.5% of all teachers were White British – around 408,800 teachers – with 13.4% coming from all other ethnic groups (including White minorities)

• teachers from the Other White ethnic group made up the next largest group after White British teachers, making up 3.8% of teachers (around 17,900 teachers)

• 93.1% of headteachers were White British (around 20,160 headteachers)

• 380,000 teachers were female, and there were more female than male teachers in all ethnic groups

Things you need to know

The numbers in this measure are based on a headcount of teachers. This means that some of these teachers could be working part time rather than full time. Full-time equivalent numbers can be found in the School Workforce Statistical Release.

What the data measures

This data measures the number of school teachers (including headteachers) in all state-funded schools in England, broken down by ethnicity, gender and grade.

The data includes teachers employed both directly by the school and centrally by the local authority in all state-funded schools. These include:

• nursery, primary, secondary and special schools run by local authorities
• academies
• free schools

The data doesn’t include the following types of school:

• independent schools
• sixth form colleges
• further education establishments

The data doesn't include the following individuals:

• teaching assistants
• occasional teachers (on contracts of less than one month)
• teachers for whom ethnicity is not known

The data was collected from schools and local authorities in November 2016 as part of the annual school workforce census.

The ethnic categories used in this data

The 16 categories used in this data are those listed in the 2001 Census. The categories are broadly the same as those used in the 2011 Census, except that:

• the 2001 Census categorised Chinese people within ‘Other ethnic group’
• the 2001 Census did not list Gypsy and Irish Travellers or Arab people

The 2001 categories are:

White:

• English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British
• Irish
• Any Other White background

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:

• White and Black Caribbean
• White and Black African
• White and Asian
• Any Other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background

Asian/Asian British:

• Indian
• Pakistani
• Bangladeshi
• Any Other Asian background

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:

• African
• Caribbean
• Any Other Black/ African/ Caribbean background

Other ethnic group:

• Chinese
• Any Other ethnic group

2. School teacher workforce by ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2016

Number of school teachers and percentage of the workforce by ethnicity

Ethnicity	%	Teachers
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.5	2,300
Indian	1.8	8,600
Pakistani	1.0	4,900
Asian other	0.6	2,900
Black
Black African	0.8	3,700
Black Caribbean	1.0	4,900
Black other	0.3	1,500
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.3	1,500
Mixed White/Black African	0.1	600
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.3	1,500
Mixed other	0.5	2,200
White
White British	86.5	408,800
White Irish	1.7	7,900
White other	3.8	17,900
Chinese and other
Chinese	0.2	800
Any other	0.5	2,600

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce School teacher workforce by ethnicity Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, the majority of school teachers in England were White British, at 86.5% of the workforce (around 408,800 teachers)

• 3.8% of teachers were from the Other White ethnic group (around 17,900 teachers), followed by 1.8% who were Indian (around 8,600 teachers) and 1.7% White Irish (around 7,900 teachers)

3. School teacher workforce by ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2016

Number of school teachers and percentage of the workforce by ethnicity and gender

	Men		Women
Ethnicity	Men %	Men Teachers	Women %	Women Teachers
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.5	600	0.5	1,700
Indian	1.5	1,700	1.9	6,800
Pakistani	1.0	1,200	1.0	3,700
Asian other	0.7	800	0.6	2,100
Black
Black African	1.2	1,400	0.6	2,200
Black Caribbean	1.0	1,100	1.1	3,800
Black other	0.4	400	0.3	1,000
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.4	400	0.3	1,100
Mixed White/Black African	0.1	200	0.1	400
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.3	300	0.3	1,200
Mixed other	0.4	500	0.5	1,700
White
White British	86.4	99,700	86.6	309,000
White Irish	2.0	2,300	1.6	5,600
White other	3.3	3,800	3.9	14,100
Chinese and other
Chinese	0.1	200	0.2	600
Any other	0.6	600	0.5	1,900

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce School teacher workforce by ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, almost 3 out of 4 school teachers were female (around 380,000 teachers)

• 86.4% of male teachers and 86.6% of female teachers were White British (around 99,700 and 309,000 teachers respectively)

• Black African teachers made up 1.2% of male teachers and 0.6% of female teachers (around 1,400 and 2,200 teachers respectively)

4. School teacher workforce by ethnicity and grade

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2016

Percentage of school teacher workforce by ethnicity and grade

Ethnicity	Heads	Deputies and assistants	Classroom and others
	%	%	%
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.1	0.2	0.5
Indian	0.7	1.3	1.9
Pakistani	0.3	0.7	1.1
Asian other	0.2	0.4	0.7
Black
Black African	0.2	0.4	0.9
Black Caribbean	0.7	1.0	1.1
Black other	0.1	0.2	0.3
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.2	0.3	0.3
Mixed White/Black African		0.1	0.1
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.2	0.2	0.3
Mixed other	0.2	0.4	0.5
White
White British	93.1	90.4	85.7
White Irish	1.9	1.6	1.7
White other	1.8	2.3	4.1
Chinese and other
Chinese	0.1	0.1	0.2
Any other	0.2	0.4	0.6

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce School teacher workforce by ethnicity and grade Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, there were around 432,600 classroom teachers, 49,100 deputy or assistant headteachers and around 22,100 headteachers

• White British people accounted for 93.1% of headteachers, 90.4% of deputy or assistant headteachers and 85.7% of classroom teachers

• classroom teachers were least likely to be Mixed White and Black African – 0.1% of classroom teachers were from this group

• deputy and assistant headteachers were least likely to be Mixed White and Black African, and Chinese – 0.1% of deputy and assistant headteachers were from each of these groups

• headteachers were least likely be Bangladeshi, Chinese or from Any other Black background – 0.1% of headteachers were from each of these groups (there was no data about Mixed White and Black African headteachers as the numbers were too small)

• White Irish teachers were the only ethnicity with a higher percentage of headteachers (1.9%) than deputy and assistant head teachers (1.6%) or classroom teachers (1.7%)

5. School teacher workforce by ethnicity and type of school

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2016

Number of teachers, and percentage of school teacher workforce, by ethnicity and type of school

	Nursery and Primary		Secondary		Special		Centrally employed
Ethnicity	Nursery and Primary %	Nursery and Primary Teachers	Secondary %	Secondary Teachers	Special %	Special Teachers	Centrally employed %	Centrally employed Teachers
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.4	1,100	0.6	1,200	0.1		0.2
Indian	1.6	3,800	2.2	4,500	1.0	200	0.8
Pakistani	0.9	2,200	1.3	2,600	0.4	100	0.5
Asian other	0.5	1,100	0.8	1,700	0.4	100	0.2
Black
Black African	0.4	1,000	1.2	2,500	0.9	200	0.2
Black Caribbean	0.9	2,000	1.2	2,500	1.4	300	0.9
Black other	0.2	500	0.4	900	0.4	100	0.2
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.3	700	0.3	700	0.3	100	0.3
Mixed White/Black African	0.1	200	0.1	300	0.1		0.1
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.3	700	0.3	700	0.5	100	0.2
Mixed other	0.4	1,000	0.5	1,100	0.4	100	0.3
White
White British	89.1	210,800	83.5	174,100	87.0	19,800	90.9	4,200
White Irish	1.4	3,300	2.0	4,200	1.4	300	0.9
White other	3.0	7,000	4.6	9,600	5.1	1,200	3.6	200
Chinese and other
Chinese	0.1	200	0.2	500	0.1
Any other	0.4	1,000	0.7	1,400	0.6	100	0.8

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce School teacher workforce by ethnicity and type of school Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, there were around 250,000 nursery and primary school teachers, 223,800 secondary school teachers, 24,300 special school teachers and 5,700 teachers who were centrally employed by the local authority

• 89.1% of nursery and primary school teachers were White British (around 210,800 teachers), and 10.9 % were from all other ethnic groups (including White ethnic minorities)

• 83.5% of secondary school teachers were White British (around 174,100 teachers), and 16.4 % were from all other ethnic groups (including White ethnic minorities)

• 87.0% of special school teachers were White British (around 19,800 teachers), and 13.1% were from from all other ethnic groups (including White ethnic minorities)

• 90.9% of teachers who are centrally employed by the local authority were White British (around 4,200 teachers)

• teachers from the Other White group were the next largest group after White British across all types of school – they made up 3.0% of nursery and primary school teachers, 4.6% of secondary school teachers, 5.1% of special school teachers and 3.6% of centrally employed teachers

• across all types of schools, teachers were the least likely to be from Chinese or Mixed White/ Black African backgrounds

6. Headteacher workforce by ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2016
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2016

Percentage of headteacher workforce by ethnicity and gender

Ethnicity	Men	Women
	%	%
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.1	0.1
Indian	0.6	0.8
Pakistani	0.2	0.3
Asian other	0.2	0.2
Black
Black African	0.2	0.2
Black Caribbean	0.4	0.9
Black other	0.1	0.1
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.3	0.2
Mixed White/Black African		0.1
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.1	0.3
Mixed other	0.2	0.2
White
White British	93.2	93.0
White Irish	2.1	1.8
White other	2.0	1.7
Chinese and other
Chinese		0.1
Any other	0.2	0.2

Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce Headteacher workforce by ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• in 2016, there were around 22,100 headteachers, and over two-thirds of those were female (14,700)

• male headteachers were more likely to be White (including White ethnic minorities), at 97.3%, compared with female headteachers (at 96.5%)

• the only 2 ethnic groups where the percentage of female headteachers was greater than male headteachers from the same ethnicity were Black Caribbean and Indian – 0.9% of female headteachers were Black Caribbean, compared with 0.4% of male headteachers, and 0.8% of female headteachers were Indian, compared with 0.6% of male headteachers

7. Methodology

Data shown here is based on administrative data collected from schools and local authorities in November 2016 as part of the seventh annual school workforce census.

The census also collects detailed information on teachers, teaching assistants and other non-classroom based school support staff.

Data on independent schools, sixth form colleges and further education establishments is not included.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Estimates based on fewer than 50 teachers have been suppressed to ensure that only reliable findings are reported. Numbers of teachers are shown to the nearest 100.

Rounding

Numbers of teachers are shown to the nearest 100.

Quality and methodology information

8. Data sources

Source

School workforce in England: November 2016

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The school workforce census data informs policy on pay and is used to monitor the effectiveness and diversity of the school workforce.

It's also used by other government departments, local authorities, external agencies and educational researchers.

9. Download the data

School teacher workforce - Spreadsheet (csv) 268 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, gender, teacher type, school type, value, headcount

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 30 May 2018

full page history

1. 30 May 2018 Updated internal metadata.
2. 28 March 2018 amended a bullet point that was misinterpreted
3. 1 March 2018 minor updates for style
4. 11 October 2017 Technical change: Updated url to match page title.
5. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Department for Education

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